August Collection
by JailyForever
Summary: Any and all stories written for the August Event (Olympics inspired) over on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
1. Gymnastics Vault 1 - The Summoning

**Subject:** Myths and Legends

 **Task:** Write a story featuring either a cult (Satanic or otherwise) or a (potential) UFO sighting.

 **Event:** Gymnastics – Vault 1

 **Prompt:** Write about some sort of ritual. (Not a wedding)

 **Chocolate Frog:** Bonus - Rufus Scrimgeour - Challenge - Write about a murder committed for the Greater Good

 **Gringotts:** CSI: S1E1 – (Action) Walking, (Colour) Black; CSI: S1E2 – (Colour) Red; NCIS: S1E1 – (Object) A body, (Action) Smiling, (Action) Collapsing; Code Breaker: S1E1 – (Object) A book, (Action) Cheering; Dark Matter: S1E1 – (Action) Kicking someone, (Dialogue) "Who are you?"; Hunchback of Notre Dame – (Word) Master, (Word) Stone, (Word) Beautiful, (Plot/Action) Being tied up; Bambi – (Colour) Red, (Word) Respect, (Plot/Action) A gathering; Black Butler: S1E1 – (Characteristic) Glowing red eyes, (Word) Master, (word) My Lord, (Action) Snapping your fingers; Black Butler: S1E2 – (Atmosphere) Dark, (Emotion) Helpless; Galavant: S1E1 – (Action) Falling down; Galavant: S1E2 – (Colour) Red, (Plot/Action) Being laughed at; Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog – (Plot/Action) Killing someone, (Feeling/Emotion) Evil, (Colour) Red; Charmed: S1E1 – (Action) Reading an incantation from a book; Charmed: S1E4 – (Word) Amulet; Charmed: S1E6 – (Object) Dagger; Charmed: S1E7 – (Action) Chanting; Charmed: S1E9 – (Word) Summon; Charmed: S1E11 – (Word) Snake; Charmed: S1E15 – (Word) Pentagram; Charmed: S1E16 – (Colour) Black; Miranda: S1E1 – (Action) Pushing someone; Secret Diaries of a Call Girl: S1E1 – (Word) Powerful; Secret Diaries of a Call girl: S1E2 – (Word) Pleasure [40]

 **Word Count:** 1598

* * *

The Summoning

Tom Riddle walked into the centre of the chalk circle that had been drawn on the floor; his followers chanted in unison as he ascended the steps towards the sacred altar that was surrounded by black candles.

On the altar rested a book that contained everything that Tom needed to know about the ritual they were about to perform, but he knew he wouldn't need it, he had been researching this for months and knew it like the back of his hand.

"You know why we have gathered here this evening," he said in an ominous voice, lowering the hood of his cloak, and looking at each and every one of his followers. "We are here to worship the great and powerful Leviathan, the Serpent of Old, and prove ourselves to be his loyal servants. We will celebrate him, and summon him back from the underworld to wreak havoc on this earth and the disgusting mortals that walk it."

The circle of followers surrounding Tom cheered as he reached into his cloak and removed a small, jewel encrusted dagger and lifted it high above his head.

"With this dagger, I shall draw blood from your loyal followers; it will give you strength and power," Tom whispered, bringing the dagger back down in front of him. "I ask the supreme powers that be to bless this dagger, and imbue it with the ability to raise our Master from his cage in Hell."

A cool breeze swept around Tom's ankles, blowing his cloak, and he smiled to himself as he felt power surge through his veins.

Tom took the serpent amulet around his neck into his hands and kissed it reverently

"Who will be first to prove their loyalty and dedication to our Master?" Tom mused, as he turned around to collect the sacred bowl.

"I will, My Lord," Barty Crouch said solemnly, bowing his head and taking a few paces towards the centre of the circle.

Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at the over-confident young man, and grabbed the back of his cloak as he swept past her.

"Oh no you don't," she hissed at him, before ascending the two stone steps that led to the altar and taking her position in front of Tom.

Bellatrix thrust her arm out proudly in front of her, and pulled back the sleeve of her cloak.

Tom smiled to himself at the sight; it pleased him to see her so ready and willing. He knew that it would serve as the perfect example to the rest of the small, but dedicated followers.

"Do you, Bellatrix Black, accept the Devil into your heart?" Tom whispered as he dragged the dagger down her forearm. "Will you do as he commands when he walks this earth again?"

"I will," she muttered, wincing slightly as the dagger broke through her skin.

Tom's eyes lit up as he watched the blood trickle from her fresh wound. He placed the sacred bowl, which bore the markings of the twisted serpent, and turned Bellatrix's arm over so that her blood could drip inside. He pressed his fingertips into her skin to make her crimson river flow quicker from her arm, eager to get as much as he could for the offering.

Once he felt he had enough blood, Tom released Bellatrix's arm from his grasp and allowed her to rejoin the circle, before calling forth the next of his followers - Barty Crouch Jr.

In Tom's view the bloodletting ceremony was going swimmingly as he called forward the final member of the circle.

"Lucius Malfoy."

Tom tapped his foot in irritation as the blonde man slowly walked from his place in the circle to the altar; he didn't miss the glances that Lucius took towards the exit.

"Hold out your arm, and draw up your sleeve," Tom commanded.

"Y-yes My Lord," he answered, shakily doing as he had been instructed.

"Do you, Lucius Malfoy, accept the Devil into your heart?" Tom whispered, dragging the dagger down the length of the shaking man's arm. "Will you do as he commands when he walks this earth again?"

"I will," he responded uncertainly.

Tom dug the dagger deep into Lucius' skin and dragged it forcefully along his forearm. The blonde man cried out loud in pain and agony, weeping as the blood began to trickle from his arm.

"Look at your offering Lucius," Tom instructed.

He watched on as Lucius nodded his head and slowly shifted the focus of his eyes from the wall behind him to the cut on his arm. He observed as Lucius became unsteady on his feet and started to sway from side to side, before collapsing into a heap on the floor.

His onlooking followers laughed and jeered at Lucius.

"Someone get this snivelling, weak excuse for a servant of the serpent out of my sight," Tom seethed, kicking the crumpled form of Lucius Malfoy. "I will not allow a delicate, little girl such as him in the presence of Leviathan, when he comes."

"I will do it My Lord," offered Barty.

"No, I will," Bellatrix said, pushing him to one side.

Tom glared at the two squabbling figures.

"That is enough," he whispered. "Rosier, would you do the honours of bringing forth our gift."

"Yes, My Lord," Rosier answered, bowing his head reverently.

"And you two," Tom said, turning his gaze back towards the fighting servants, "you can get this sorry lump out of here. And when you return I expect you to show our Master the respect he deserves. You are ruining the atmosphere."

Whilst he waited for the sacrifice to be brought forth, Tom added his own blood to the bowl, and began to mix it with his finger, relishing in the knowledge that this would be the blood that would soon flow through the veins of the resurrected Serpent of Old, and that it would be he who had made it happen.

After all, without his blood the ritual would be a failure. Without the blood of a true serpent, the best anyone could hope for would be to not get an infection.

The side door through which his follower had exited moments earlier opened, and through it came a blindfolded, young woman who was swaying from side to side, closely followed by Rosier.

Tom waited at the top of the altar as Rosier guided her towards him.

"She will make the most beautiful sacrifice," he mused to himself, kissing her on the forehead. "Shackle her to the altar."

Rosier nodded his head curtly and followed his order to the letter, before resuming his place in the circle.

Tom stalked towards the altar table which now held their offering.

He used the dagger to cut away her binding clothes, and he took great pleasure in hearing her feeble sobs.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" she whimpered as Tom placed a gag in her mouth.

"Hush now," he muttered to the bound woman. "You have the great honour of giving your life for the greater good of our kind."

He dipped his forefinger into the sacred bowl collecting as much blood as he could before withdrawing in, and beginning to draw the symbol of the serpent – a pentagram with a snake running through the centre of it - on the woman's exposed chest.

His eyes flickered briefly to the book next to him as he double checked the incantation he knew so well.

"With this blood, the blood of the loyal, I mark thee as a gift for our Master," Tom muttered, smearing a circle on her chest. "He will break free from his cage by our sacrifice."

"He will break free from his cage by our sacrifice," chanted the circle.

"I call upon your servants to bless this dagger," Tom called, picking up the dagger in front of him. "It shall transfer her life force unto you, oh Leviathan."

With those words, Tom plunged the dagger deep into the centre of the bound woman's chest.

"Leviathan, I call you forth. As the life drains from our gift may it give you the strength and power to return from your fiery cell, and walk amongst us once again," Tom cried loudly.

"Leviathan, we call you forth," Tom's followers chanted. "May you walk amongst us once again."

A rush of wind swept throughout the room, and the candles surrounding the altar flickered out.

The air surrounding the circle turned cold, and Tom felt a surge of power as the dagger began to vibrate in his hands.

 _This is it,_ he thought to himself. _The time of Leviathan has come again._

Tom twisted the dagger inside the woman and pulled it out.

A cloud of black smoke burst from the ground beneath him and entered Tom's chest. The strength of the smog-like substance sent him buckling to his knees.

"My Lord," whispered Bellatrix and Barty simultaneously, taking a step forward from their position in the circle.

Tom's head snapped up, and unearthly, glowing red eyes met the devoted duos. He clicked his fingers, relighting the black candles that surrounded him.

"Your _Lord_ is not here anymore," a hypnotising voice said. "I am your Master, Leviathan, and together we shall wreak havoc on this earth. We will make these ghastly mortals pay for sending me to the underworld. Together, under my rule, we shall bring the world to it's knees."

The cloaked men and women in the circle cheered as they felt the power of Leviathan's words touch their souls.

"Go forth my loyal followers, and spread the good news," he commanded, "the dawn of Leviathan has begun."


	2. Rowing:Quad Sculls1- Can't Do This Alone

**Subject:** Ancient Runes

 **Task:** Write about a twist of events that turn a situation upside down.

 **Event:** Rowing: Quadruple Sculls

 **Prompt:** A Birth

 **1000 Word Challenge:** Purchase

 **Word Count:** 637

* * *

Can't Do This Alone

Draco and Astoria ambled down the quiet Muggle street, making their way towards the shopping centre to purchase some last minute baby items.

Suddenly, his wife grabbed his arm and stopped him dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong, darling?" he asked, turning to face his wife of three years.

"I—I think the baby's coming, Draco," Astoria gasped, taking a sharp intake of breath as she felt a twinge in her lower abdomen.

Draco felt the air leave his lungs.

His baby was coming - now, and he didn't feel ready. He wasn't ready for the responsibility of being a father.

His mind began to race with all the things that needed to be done before the baby arrived. Had he done everything on the list, or was there something left to do?

Was the nursery completed and fully furnished?

Did they have—

"Draco, now is not the time to start over-thinking everything," Astoria snapped. "I need to get to a hospital. You know the place that has the nice pain relief potions."

"Yes, yes, of course, darling," he rushed out. "Which way is it to the hospital? Should I carry you?"

"No, you idiot," Astoria laughed, slapping him on the shoulder. "Apparate there."

"Oh, yes, of course, apparate," Draco said, feeling like a moron as he felt around for his wand in his robes.

Draco took hold of his wife's hand and twisted on the spot, trying not to panic at the thought that in just a few short hours he would be holding his son in his arms.

~o~o~o~

Draco paced outside the room. The Healers had sent him from the room over an hour ago when it had become apparent that all was not going to plan with the birth.

They hadn't told him why, all they had said to him was, _"Mr. Malfoy, it would be best if you stepped outside for a moment."_

He banged his fist against the wall in frustration.

What was going on in the delivery room?

What was so bad that they had to ask him to leave?

This was supposed to be one of the happiest days of his life, and it was being plagued by worry for the safety of his wife and son.

Draco collapsed into one of the chairs and threw his head into his hands. _Please let them be okay,_ he thought to himself.

"Mr. Malfoy," said a Healer, quietly announcing her presence, and Draco jumped to his feet.

"What is it? Is my wife okay? My son?"

Draco noticed how the Healer's eyes flickered to the ground. Something bad had happened. He could tell.

"I'm so very sorry Mr. Malfoy, your wife—"

"No, no, please, no," Draco sobbed. "I can't do this without her."

Draco leant against the wall and slid down it, letting out a cry of anguish.

"What about my son? Is he healthy?" he asked.

"Yes and I think he would like to meet his daddy." The Healer smiled sadly at him. "I am so very sorry for your loss Mr. Malfoy. Would you like to come through and meet your son?"

Draco stood up and dried his eyes.

"Yes," he choked out, "I think I would."

The bereaved man followed the Healer back through the double doors that led to the delivery suite.

His eyes tracked over towards the bed where his wife lay. She looked so peaceful, almost as if she was sleeping.

"I'll be brave for him, my love," he whispered as the Healer handed him his son. "I promise."

This may not have been how Draco had foreseen the day to go when he brought his wife to the hospital, but now that the worst thing imaginable had happened he knew that he had to be the strongest version of himself - for his son.


	3. Gymnastics Vault 1 - Rags to Riches

**Written and posted separately for Round 9 of QL**

 **Subject:** Music History Option One

 **Prompt:** Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

 **Event:** Vault 2

 **Prompt:** Write a Medieval AU

 **Chocolate Frog:** Bronze - Theodore Nott - Challenge - Write about Theodore Nott

 **Gringotts:** Bambi – (Location) Meadow, (Location) Forest, (Location) River, (Character) Mother, (Character) Hunter, (Character) Twins, (Animal/Creature) Deer, (Animal/Creature) Rabbit, (Sound) Gunshot, (Sound) Giggling, (Word) Congratulations, (Word) Flower, (Word) Danger, (Word) Log, (Word) Puddle, (Plot/Action) Mother dying, (Plot/Action) Making Friends, (Plot/Action) Learning to walk, (Plot/Action) A gathering, (Plot/Action) Being unsteady on your feet, (Plot/Action) Getting caught in branches, (Plot/Action) Being hunted, (Plot/Action) Reunited, (Plot/Action) Bumping into a childhood friend and falling in love, (Plot/Action) Getting shot, (Plot/Action) Mother's Death, (Dialogue) "Kind wobbly, isn't he?"; Galavant: S1E1 – (Era) Medieval, (Plot/Action) Falling down, (Animal) Horse, (Word) Love, (Word) Rare, (Item) Carriage; Galavant S1E2 – (Location) Forest, (Word) Relationship, (Word) Hug, (Word) Journey, (Plot/Action) Travelling; Charmed: S1E6 – (Word) Estate; Charmed: S1E7 – (Word) Fire; Charmed S1E9 – (Object) Gun; Charmed S1E12 – (Action) Attacking someone in the woods, (Word) Fire; Charmed: S1E14 – (Action) Holding someone at gun point; Charmed: S1E19 – (Scenario) Being followed, (Action) Taking a child, (Word) Eye, (Emotion) Scared; Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog – (Plot/Action) Killing someone, (Animal) Horse, (Word) Whatever, (Word) Light; Jane Eyre – (OC Name) Miss Maria Temple, (Skill) Teacher, (Event) Death of a beloved relative, (Emotion) Sadness; S1E1: Black Butler – (Emotion) Scared, (Action) Running away from something, (Action) Chuckling, (Object) Carriage; S1E2: Black Butler – (Object) Gun, (Emotion) Terror, (Emotion) Helpless, (Emotion) Confused, (Emotion) Disbelief, (Emotion) Shocked, (Scenario) Being chased, (Action) Running, (Action) Pointing a gun at someone, (Action) Backing away from something; The Rescuers – (Word) Help, (Word) Promised, (Plot/Action) Praying, (Plot/Action) Searching for a missing child, (Plot/Action) Kiss on the cheek, (Plot/Action) Crying; AU - Medieval [76]

 **Word Count:** 2991

* * *

Rags to Riches

Theodore Nott stood on the raised platform next to his father, Lord Cantankerus, awaiting the arrival of the woman who was to be his future bride, thinking back on how he had come to be here.

If anyone had asked him as a child where he would see himself at the age of eighteen, this situation would never have entered his mind. In fact, until he turned eight, he never would have expected to know his father at all.

~o~o~o~

As a young child he had been raised on the estate belonging to Lord and Lady Granger. His mother worked in the kitchens there as a cook, a job which she had held there since shortly after his birth and had been most fortunate to land, given her status.

He could remember, clear as day, the first time he encountered the Grangers' daughter, Lady Hermione.

~o~o~o~

He had been just shy of his second birthday and was only just learning how to walk.

"He's kind of wobbly, isn't he?" someone said, giggling.

Theo looked up from his position on the floor and saw her. The little girl who stood in front of him was a little bit taller than he was. She had a round face with rosy cheeks and dimples and she had the brightest smile on her face. Her big brown doe-like eyes sparkled with glee and her equally brown hair was styled perfectly into ringlets that framed her face. Theo thought that she was almost as pretty as his mum.

"Indeed he is, Mistress Hermione," the young woman next to her answered, "but you have to understand that he is only just learning to walk."

"Then we should help him," the little girl decided, steadily walking over to him. "Come on, get up."

The little girl offered him her hand and Theo looked from the hand to her face and back again, before casting a glance over at the young woman who had accompanied Lady Hermione, who gave him a subtle nod.

Theo placed his tiny hand in her equally small one and allowed her to pull him to his feet, causing her to tumble backwards.

"Mistress Hermione," the woman gasped, rushing over to the little girl's side.

"I'm okay, Miss Maria," Hermione whispered, climbing to her feet and giving Theo a charming smile. "I just wanted to help the young master see that we all fall down sometimes."

Theo returned Lady Hermione's smile and from that day on he felt as if he had found his first friend.

~o~o~o~

He didn't see Lady Hermione up close again until he turned five years old and his mother took him to a part of the manor that he had never seen before, the solar. It was here that he was informed that Miss Maria Temple, governess to Lady Hermione, would fulfil the role of his teacher as well, something that he was reliably informed was a great honour.

By all accounts, Lord and Lady Granger were very good to him indeed and actively encouraged a friendship between him and their daughter. Until that moment in his life he hadn't realised that some Lords and Ladies allowed their children to mix with the lower born children, however Theo would come to learn, the hard way, that this was an unnatural occurrence amongst the high born in society.

~o~o~o~

Theo never questioned the fact that he never had a father until one day, after one of their lessons with Mistress Maria, Hermione asked him where he was. It was a question that got his mind churning; eventually he couldn't take not knowing any longer.

"Mum, why don't I have a daddy like Lady Hermione?" he asked as they walked through the extensive grounds belonging to the Grangers.

"Theo, let's go and sit down," she suggested, guiding him towards one of the trees.

They ambled towards the tree in silence and the little boy wondered what his mother would tell him. He was eagerly anticipating getting answers to the many questions that he had had about his father for the last few days.

His mother opened her mouth several times as she unsuccessfully attempted to get the words out.

"Theo, your father and I didn't have what you would call a conventional relationship," his mum told him.

"What does that mean?" he asked

"It means that we were never married. We were together for a short while, and we had every intention of getting wed, but it wasn't meant to be." His mother paused for a moment, and swiped a tear from her eye. "Your father and I parted ways, never to see each other again. I didn't find out I was expecting you until a few weeks later. I never had a chance to tell him."

Theo looked up at his mother and could sense that there was something she was holding back, but decided not to question it. He had some of the answers he wanted.

He had a father, a father who didn't know about him, which in Theo's view was a lot better than discovering he had a father who didn't want him.

The little boy jumped into his mother's arms and gave her hug.

"I love you, mum," he whispered into her hair.

"I love you too, my beautiful boy," she answered, kissing him on the cheek.

~o~o~o~

And then, one day, Theodore's life changed forever and set his life on a course that he could never have imagined in his wildest dreams.

It had been one of his mother's rare days off and to celebrate his recent birthday she had taken him to a meadow that was located a short distance from the Granger's estate, in the middle of a forest. It was a place that she took him as often as possible, but had always told him he mustn't go to on his own.

"Oh, Theo, isn't it beautiful," his mother sighed as they entered the large

meadow full of every species of flower Theo could imagine. "It's so light and open."

"Indeed it is, mother," he answered, removing his hand from hers and venturing off to explore as he so often did. "Look, arabbit, oh—and is that a deer over there?"

"Oh, why yes it is, Theodore, well done," she laughed as she began unpack the picnic.

Her demeanour changed as suddenly as the weather on a day in April.

She abruptly stopped laughing and her eyes darkened as she beckoned him back to her.

"Theo, I want you to do something for me," she rushed out.

"Anything mum."

"I want you to run; I want you to run and keep running until you reach the house and, whatever you do, don't look back."

"Why?" Theo asked, feeling completely confused.

"There's no time for that now. Just do as I say," she implored.

"Okay," he answered, nodding his head.

"Go! Now!" she instructed him, turning Theo around and giving him a gentle push on the back.

Theo stumbled a little as he broke into a gentle run towards the forest entrance. He wasn't more than a few paces into the forest when he heard the gunshot.

The eight year old whirled around on the spot to see his mother backing away from a man who was pointing a rifle directly at her chest.

He bit on his trembling bottom lip as the man exchanged inaudible words with his mother before pulling the trigger.

It felt as though everything was happening in slow motion for Theo. The bullet escaped its captor and travelled through the air, hitting his mother square in the chest.

"Mum," he whispered quietly as she fell slowly to the ground and tears streaked down his cheeks.

He watched as the man kicked his mother's lifeless body and a loud sob erupted from him. The man's head snapped up and looked directly at him; a sneer sneaking onto his face as he stalked towards him.

Instinctively, the little boy turned on his heel and started to run faster than he had ever ran in his life.

He tore through through the forest, running through a dirty puddle that splashed up and stained his new pure white trousers; the sleeves of his thin jumper got caught on twigs, loosening the stitching and tearing threads from it.

The clothes he was wearing were effectively ruined but Theo couldn't find it within himself to care, he knew he was in danger and had to get away from it.

Theo stumbled over a log and fell to the ground, cutting his hands on sharp thorns and gravel as he used them to break his fall. He picked himself straight back up and cast a wary glance over his shoulder as he heard the footsteps of the murderer grow louder.

He continued to run and finally found himself in a place he vaguely recognised. He remembered playing here last Spring and hiding from his mother in a bush by the river. It had taken her quite a while to find him and Theo figured that it was the best hiding place he could hope to discover.

He pushed the branch that hung low over the small entrance to the bush and climbed inside.

Theo had only been there a few minutes when he heard the loud footsteps approach.

"Find the boy," he heard a voice say from his hiding place, "and whatever you do, don't harm him. Lord Cantankerus wishes his son to be unharmed. His orders were clear: do what we must to the mother, even if it means killing her, but keep the boy safe."

Theo slowly shuffled further backwards and deeper into the large bush trying his best to make no sound at all and hold back the shrieks and cries of pain that wanted to burst out of him.

He pulled his legs close to his chest as he began to rock back and forth. He knew that he was facing some form of danger—how could he not, when his mother had been murdered by the very same men who now seemed to be hunting for him?

Theo felt his nose start to tickle.

 _No, not now,_ he thought to himself as he let out an almighty sneeze.

"What was that?" he heard the voice say.

"What do you mean?" a gruffer voice said in response

"I heard a noise from over there. Rosier, go and check it out."

"Yes Sir," the man, who Theo suspected must be named Rosier, answered.

Theo cowered further back in his hiding place, pulling at the twigs of the bushes hoping to shield himself from view.

He closed his eyes tightly and sent a silent prayer up to the gentle and kind God his mother always told him about.

And then two arms roughly grabbed his legs, dragging him from his hiding place.

"Get off me," he sobbed quietly, kicking his legs. "Please, leave me alone. I won't tell anyone what I saw. I promise."

"Quiet boy, we aren't going to hurt you," the man from earlier whispered, pulling him to his feet. "We've come to take you home to your father."

~o~o~o~

The journey to Nott Manor took two days by horse and carriage. Whenever Theo got a glance at his surroundings, all he could see were fields that stretched out for miles ahead of him.

He had no idea what would await him when he finally met the man these men claimed to be his father, but whatever it was he was sure it could be nothing good.

How could it be when his father's men had killed his mother?

~o~o~o~

Theodore quickly learnt that Lord Cantankerus was the opposite of Lord and Lady Granger in every way possible.

Where they had been attentive parents to Lady Hermione and had taken a keen interest in how her studies were coming along, the man he now had to call father was never around and only appeared to care about how well he could fire a gun. However, whenever his father got an update, he always seemed to be disappointed.

~o~o~o~

Yes, if anyone had asked him as a child if he thought he would end up here, he would have told them they must have had a bump to the head.

And now he was about to be introduced to the woman he would marry, whether he liked it or not. Theo knew hardly anything about who she was, only that she was the daughter of a high powered Lord, and reportedly the fairest maiden in all the land.

"Presenting, Lord and Lady Granger, and their daughter, Lady Hermione," one of his father's men announced.

Granger?

Lady Hermione?

 _It cannot be,_ Theo thought to himself as the double doors were thrown open and in walked the familiar, albeit older, figures of three people he had missed a lot when he moved to Nott Manor.

"Son," his father said, drawing Theo from his thoughts, "I'd like you to meet your future bride, the lovely Lady Hermione Granger."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Hermione," Theo said, extending his hand towards the beautiful young woman stood in front of him.

Lady Hermione smiled up and him knowing look, and took his outstretched hand.

"It's delightful to meet you too," she answered.

Theo bent down on one knee and kissed the hand he held.

"Well now that acquaintances have been made, shall we finalise the dowry and start making plans for the handfasting whilst the young couple get to know each other better?" Lord Cantankerous suggested.

Lord and Lady Granger nodded in agreement, and left Theo alone for the first time with his new bride-to-be.

"Theo, I cannot believe you are here," Lady Hermione exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. "I thought for sure something bad had happened to you, especially after—"

Hermione stopped talking and glanced up at Theo with a look of worry in her eyes.

"After my mother passed away," Theo finished. "Don't worry, I know what happened. Some of my father's acquaintances brought me here almost immediately afterwards. I wish I could have said goodbye, but they wouldn't let me."

Theo lowered his eyes to the ground, not wanting to let Hermione see how upset he was.

"It's alright," she said softly, placing her hand on his shoulder. "We have all the time in the world now."

"Indeed we do," Theo answered, offering her a smile.

~o~o~o~

The weeks flew by and soon the day of Theo and Hermione's engagement party arrived. It was to be a grand affair; every Lord and Lady for miles had been invited and no expense had been spared on decor, food and entertainment.

As the guests arrived, Theo and Hermione shook hands with each and every one of them as they offered their congratulations; with smiles planted on their faces.

"Is your face as sore as mine from all this smiling?" Theo asked after the latest guests to arrive left.

"Probably," Hermione laughed. "How many more guests do you think our parents invited?"

"Heaven knows," Theo answered, "by the looks of it though, they've invited every man and his horse."

~o~o~o~

After they had greeted all the guests, Theo felt as though the evening began to progress at a much quicker pace.

First, their parents welcomed everyone to the handfasting and said a few words about how pleased they were about the up and coming union between the pair.

This was swiftly followed by the pair of them making their declarations before all the guests and formally accepting each other as their future spouse.

After the ceremony the food was served and Theo had to admit that it had been money well spent. It was the best roe deer that he had ever tasted in his eighteen years on the earth.

Soon afterwards, he and Hermione had taken to the dance floor and became lost in one another, and the rhythm of music. Theo felt as though they were the only two people in the vast ballroom.

As they danced, the servants made their way around the room either offering to refill their guests wine, or carrying a platter of hors-d'oeuvres

"My Lady, would you like to go outside for some fresh air?" Theo asked as the latest waltz came to end.

"That sounds most agreeable, My Lord," Hermione responded, linking her arm around his.

As soon as they were outside, Theo began to guide Hermione towards his favourite spot on the vast estate.

"I'm so happy you're going to be my wife," Theo whispered when they reached the lake.

"I am as well, Theo," Hermione sighed. "Who would've thought that we would end up together, after all those years apart?"

"Indeed," Theo agreed, wrapping his arms around his bride-to-be.

As Theo watched the water gently ripple, he recalled something that his mother had once said to him: "If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it." And as he looked out to the distance, he could safely say that he finally understood what she had meant—Theo was the happiest he had ever been and he couldn't imagine the smile he was currently wearing leave his face.

~o~o~o~

As it turned out, Theo was correct. He smiled every day for the rest of his life, but never as much or as broad as on the day that he first laid eyes on his twin daughters.

He vowed to himself that he would love them with every fibre of his being and that he would always be there for them. In short, he promised them that he would be the polar opposite of his own father, who had always been an absent figure, even when Theo had been living with him.

And when his daughters were old enough to understand what they meant, he repeated the same words to them that his mother had once told him:

"If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it."


	4. Rowing:Quad Sculls3- First and Only Love

**Event:** Rowing

 **Prompt:** First Love

 **Word Count:** 586

* * *

First and Only Love

Draco sat nervously in the lounge holding a perfectly cut red heart shaped card that he had been working on for the last week in secret, ever since he had heard about the Muggle holiday, Valentine's Day.

Despite the fact that his father had instilled in him from the day he was born that all Muggles were scum, as was everything and anything associated with them, Draco couldn't understand what was wrong with a day that was all about showing someone that you loved them… even if it did admittedly have a stupid name.

He looked down at the card in his hands and wondered if his mother would like it and whether she would like the drawing of the two of them holding hands on the front. The four year old wasn't sure he had quite captured her likeness on paper, but short of stealing his father's wand and keeping his fingers crossed, it was the best he could do.

Draco opened the card and screwed up his face as he analysed his writing:

 _deer mummy,_

 _hapee valentighns day_

 _I luv yoo lots_

 _yoo ar migh ferst and onli luv_

 _luv from Draco_

 _xxxxxxxxxx_

He had tried his very best with his letters and hoped his mum wouldn't be too disappointed that he still couldn't do his e's the correct way. He also hoped that he had his spelling correct, he had made sure he used his phonics knowledge that his tutor taught him, and he was quite proud of himself for remembering the tricky _'igh'_ sound.

Draco heard a _'crack'_ from the hallway and knew that his mother must be back from visiting his Aunt Bella who had been very poorly over the last couple of weeks.

He jumped up from his armchair, which was a miniature version of the one his father sat in, placed his card on the side table and ran towards the door as quickly as his little legs would carry him.

"Mummy," he said, greeting her as she hung up her coat, "I made something for you. Come and see."

Draco took hold of his mum's hand and dragged her into the lounge and reclaimed his card, presenting it to her with a proud smile on his face.

"I did it all by myself, mummy," Draco declared.

"It's beautiful, Draco," she said softly, bending down and kissing him on the cheek. "Whatever is it for?"

"Open it," he said, rocking backwards and forwards with his arms folded in front of him

Draco watched as his mother opened the card and read the short message inside, and noticed that tears were filling her eyes.

 _Had he upset her?_

"Mummy, why are you crying?" Draco asked, wondering if the card had been a mistake. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to show you that I love you. I didn't want to make you sad."

"You haven't sweetie, these are happy tears," she answered, smiling broadly at him. "I'm so happy to be your first love."

"And only, mummy," Draco told her. "Girls are icky."

His mum looked and his and chuckled. "One day Draco, when you meet a girl you fall in love with, I'll remind you of this day. Now, it's time we were getting you ready for dinner."

Draco nodded his head dutifully and followed his mother to the door silently refusing to believe that he would ever love a girl as much as he loved him mum.

No matter what she said, she was his first and only love.


	5. Rowing:QuadSculls4 - Unwanted Attentions

**Subject:** Music History

 **Task:** Write about a very uptight character

 **Event:** Rowing

 **Prompt:** Last Day

 **Chocolate Frog:** Gold – Mountain Troll – Prompts – Stupid, Club

 **Gringotts:** Alice In Wonderland – (Colour) Red, (Number) Two, (Number) Three, (Item) A key, (Word) Time; Big Bang Theory S1E1 – (Word) Naked, (Word) Lady; Charmed S1E3 – (Word) Key; Charmed S1E16 – (Word) Three, (Colour) Blue; The Rescuers – (Colour) Red; CSI: NY S1E1 – (Word) Sir; CSI: NY S1E2 – (Colour) Red; NCIS S1E1 – (Setting) A bar; Hunchback of Nortre Dame – (Word) Stop, (Word) Beautiful; Galavant S1E1 – (Word) Please, Sparkly; Galavant S1E2 – (Colour) Royal Blue; Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog – (Word) Slipping

 **Word Count:** 835

* * *

Unwanted Attentions

Draco reluctantly allowed Blaise to place the obtrusive blindfold over his eyes grumbling internally about stupid, stag party traditions.

It wasn't something that he had ever wanted to partake in but, as his best man, Blaise had taken it upon himself to disregard what his opinions. The best Draco could hope for was that Blaise wouldn't go too far with his 'traditions'.

Unfortunately for Draco, that was not going to be the case as he soon found out when Blaise whipped off his blindfold and pushed him on the shoulder so that he was seated in a red, velvet chair.

As Draco allowed his eyes to adjust to the bright neon lights, he felt someone trail their arm across the back of his neck and froze.

"Blaise, where in the name of God have you brought me?" he hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "And just why is someone touching me?"

"Relax," Blaise said boisterously, "and enjoy the delights that Phoenix here will bring you."

Blaise beckoned the person whose hand was still touching his neck to come round.

Draco felt as though his eyes would pop out of his head as a beautiful woman sashayed in front of him. She was wearing a royal blue bra covered in miniscule, sparkly diamantes, and a matching pair of underwear.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat trying with all his might to look anywhere except in front of him.

"Here's fifty pounds," Blaise said, tucking a crisp note into the scantily clad woman's bra. "Give my boy a show he'll never forget."

Draco shot a scowl towards the man who was supposed to be his best friend.

"Don't look at me like that, Draco, it's your last day as a single man," Blaise told him, "so loosen up and enjoy Phoenix as well as all the delights she has to offer you."

"And if I don't want to?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at his best man.

"You don't have a choice mate," he answered, slyly slipping a pair of metal handcuffs around his wrists and snapping them shut. "You'll thank me for this later."

Blaise winked at him before heading off towards the bar at the far end of the room, leaving him alone with the half naked lady.

Draco pulled at his shackles as the woman began to sway in time with the music.

He didn't want to be here, and he didn't want to be looking at a woman who was not his wife-to-be. He felt as though he would be betraying the love of his life if he watched her—Phoenix—dance. It was wholly inappropriate.

The woman twirled on the spot so that her back was facing him, and Draco feebly hoped that this would be the end of his forced torture, however as soon as she began to grind herself against him he realised this was not the case.

 _Will this ever end?_ Draco thought to himself at the same time he was started to have an involuntary reaction to her ministrations.

 _No, no, no, why are you doing that?_ he asked himself. _You love Astoria, why are you reacting like this to that woman. She's nothing special._

"Get away from me," he yelled, unable to take her grinding a second longer. "I'll give you double what my friend paid you if you just stop now."

"Sir, it's nothing to be ashamed of," she whispered seductively as she turned around to face him with big doe-like eyes and climbing onto his lap. "All men react this was to me, even the married ones."

"I refuse to be one of those men, now get off me," he pleaded, leaning back as far as he could to get away from her. "I'll pay you three times as much as my friend gave you. Just please leave me alone."

"Sir, your mouth maybe saying stop, but that's not what your body is telling me," she purred into his ear.

"FOUR!" Draco cried. "Four times as much—that's two hundred pounds for to stop. Please."

Phoenix sighed and climbed off him.

"Fine, you're no fun," she told him. "I'd rather have a customer who can appreciate me anyway."

"Thank you," Draco whispered, breathing a sigh of relief. "Would you be so kind as to get my friend from the bar so I can pay you? And, if you wouldn't mind, could you tell him I enjoyed myself immensely otherwise he'll never release me from these handcuffs?"

Phoenix nodded her head and headed towards the bar, returning moments later with Blaise in tow.

"See mate, I told you that you would love it; this club is the best," Blaise said, slapping him on the back before taking a small key out of his pocket and unlocking the handcuffs. "Now on with the next tradition."

Draco threw his head into his hands, and all he could think was that he hoped this one was more endurable and enjoyable than the one he had just experienced.


	6. Rowing: Quad Sculls 2- His Other Half

**Subject:** Myths and Legends Task 1

 **Task:** Write about a character with an OC twin

 **Event:** Rowing

 **Prompt:** A Big Loss

 **Chocolate Frog:** Gold - Morholt - Challenge - Write about brothers

 **Gringotts:** Sons of Anarchy S1E1 – (Action) Run **;** Alice in Wonderland: Tim Burton – (Plot Device) Memories; NCIS: NY S1E1 – (Action) Smiling, (Action) Crying **;** Sherlock: S1E1 – (Action) Running, (Word) Okay **;** Charmed: S1E4 – (Object) Newspaper **;** Charmed: S1E20 – (Word) Ghost, (Word) Spirit, (Action) Storming out of a room **;** The Rescuers – (Action/Plot) Crying **;** CSI: NY S1E1 – (Feeling) Sadness, (Word) House **;** CSI: NY S1E2 – (Action) Running **;** CSI: NY S1E3 – (Object) Newspaper, (Action) Grinning **;** New Girl S1E2 – (Action) Hugging; Code Breaker S1E1 – (Action) Running **;** Black Butler S1E1 – (Character) Mum and Dad, (Character) a ghost **;** Galavant S1E2 – (Location) Bedroom

 **Word Count:** 886

* * *

His Other Half

Draco turned to look at his twin Scorpius with a broad grin on his face, to find and expression that mirrored his own.

They had both just received their Hogwarts letter after weeks of waiting with baited breath for the inevitable owl to arrive with the joyous news.

"Father look," Scorpius said quietly.

"We got our letters," Draco added.

"Aren't you proud?" Scorpius gave his father a hopeful look.

Lucius glanced up from his paper and gave his sons a look of disdain.

"Getting into Hogwarts was never in doubt. What on earth would I have to be proud of?" he asked, before turning his attention back to The Daily Prophet. "Only Hufflepuffs would ask such a ridiculous question."

Narcissa gave her husband a reproachful look.

"Well, I'm proud my darlings," she said softly, a warm smile on her face. "We shall go shopping for your Hogwarts equipment in the next couple of days."

Narcissa opened her arms; both of her sons jumped up from their chairs and embraced her tightly. She kissed the pair of them on the top of their heads.

"Stop mollycoddling them, Narcissa," Lucius snapped from his chair. "Do you want them to be in Slytherin or not?"

Both Draco and Scorpius didn't miss the glare their mother shot in their father's direction as she released them from her arms.

"Boys, why don't you go and get changed," Narcissa suggested brightly. "Your Auntie Bella will be expecting us soon."

Draco cast a sideways glance at his twin, and he knew instantly that he was thinking the same thing he was.

"Race you to the third floor," Scorpius laughed, breaking free from his mother's arms and rushing towards the door.

Everything was looking peachy for the Malfoy family, until the eve of their trip to Diagon Alley.

~o~o~o~

"Scorpius," Draco yelled, shaking his twin on his shoulder. "Wake up. We're going to Diagon Alley today!"

Scorpius didn't move.

"Scorp," Draco said a little louder, already fearing the worst; their bond, their connection wasn't quite right. "Scorp. SCORP!"

Draco shook his twin vigorously, desperately trying to wake him and refusing to admit what his heart was telling him.

"Stop messing around," he cried, feeling his face start to get a little wet. "Dad's going to go metal if you don't wake up."

Draco collapsed onto his brother, the pain in his heart becoming too much for him to bear.

"Scorp," he whispered, allowing the tears to fall thick and fast as he finally accepted his brother, his twin, and his other half was inexplicably gone from this world.

"Do you remember that time we broke into dad's study?" Draco asked his shell of a brother. "He got so mad at us, and even though it was my idea you told him it was yours, and I selfishly allowed you take the punishment. You always were the better twin. I never deserved you as a brother."

"No, you didn't," a familiar voice whispered from behind him, "but I love you anyway."

 _No, it cannot be… he wouldn't have… surely he couldn't have!_

Draco lifted his head off his twin's body and slowly turned around to face the direction the voice came from.

 _He did! But how?_

"Scorpius?" Draco asked uncertainly, looking between the ghost and the bed. "Is that you?"

 _Please say no. Please let this just be my imagination running wild._

The ghost nodded his head slowly. "I'm sorry."

"No," Draco whispered, feeling any fleeting hope he might have had that his brother was still alive disappear.

Before Draco could say anything more, the bedroom door was flung open and in walked his mother and father.

"What's going on in here?" Narcissa asked, paling almost immediately at the sight of her son's ghostly form. Her eyes flickered over to the bed where her son slept in the vain hope that she was seeing things, and let out a scream of anguish when she saw the unmoving body of Scorpius.

"Be gone from my house," his father boomed at the spirit, casting his eyes in the same direction as his wife's.

"Lucius, he's Scorpius our son," Narcissa whispered, tears flowing thick and fast from her eyes.

"That is no son of mine," Lucius said coldly, pointing at the ghostly form. "Now go before I take care of you myself."

The wizard removed his wand from his robes and pointed it directly at Scorpius.

"Father, no, please," Draco begged, moving to stand between his twin's ghost and Lucius' wand.

"Stand aside, Draco," his father ordered. "Now."

"Draco, do as he asks," Scorpius said softly. "Don't worry, I'm going, fa—Mr. Malfoy."

The surviving twin spun around and looked at Scorpius.

"Please don't—"

"I have to, Draco, but you'll be okay," Scorpius told him with conviction.

Draco watched through bleary eyes as his twin floated away through the brick wall.

"Goodbye," he whispered, before whirling around and pushing past his mother and father. He ran into his bedroom and slammed the door hard behind him.

Draco jumped onto his still unmade bed and broke down into tears.

One thing was certainly clear: they would not be going to Diagon Alley today; shopping for school supplies wasn't important anymore, and it wouldn't be the same for Draco - in fact nothing would feel the same for him again.


	7. Gymnastics: Floor - To See You Again

**Subject:** Charms

 **Task:** Write about someone being stopped from getting to their desired destination, or stopped from meeting up with someone.

 **Event:** Floor

 **Tumbling Passes:** (Action) Consuming Drugs - 0.8, (Action) Performing CPR - 0.6, (Action) Finding an animal in front of your door - 0.8, (Action) Being chased by a dog - 0.6; **Leaps and Jumps:** (Dialogue) "I thought you were dead!" - 0.3, (Dialogue) "It feels like the world has let me down. Again." - 0.4, (Dialogue) "Oh, please, shut up. Just this once." - 0.2; **Turns:** (Word) Hope - 0.5, (Word) Idiot - 0.3, (Word) Darkness - 0.3

 **Chocolate Frog:** Bronze - Rosier - Prompts - Need, Damn

 **Word Count:** 1965

 **Warning:** Substance abuse.

* * *

To See You Again

He stood at the counter and handed over the money to the cashier, ignoring the questioning look on her face.

He was glad that she at least had more than enough sense to keep her questions to herself, unlike the woman at the last pharmacy he had gone to. Her incessant probing had driven him crazy.

" _What do you need all these drugs for?"_

" _Are they all for you?"_

" _Did you know that if you take too many painkillers the human body builds up a resistance to them?"_

He had gotten so irritated by her that he had stormed out of there without purchasing a thing, and walked at least a mile to where he was now.

The fairly attractive pharmacist placed all his purchases into a bag and handed it over to him, which he promptly tucked away in the inside of his grey jacket. He didn't miss the look of worry in her eyes.

 _Don't worry, I know exactly what I'm doing,_ he thought to himself as he exited the shop, and started the long walk home.

As he walked down the street, he felt like he was being followed. The young man looked over his shoulder and noticed a huge, black shaggy dog padding along at quite a pace, and it was getting closer by the second.

 _Go away you stupid mutt!_

 _I do not want to exit the world at your hands thank you very much!_

Subconsciously, he started to walk faster and faster until he was running. He knew it was irrational and that the dog probably wouldn't hurt him, but ever since he was a young boy he had afraid of the animal.

 _No, no, no, don't you dare come any closer to me._

He could hear the heavy panting of the dog as it grew closer and closer to him. He knew that there was no chance of him out running the beast.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a familiar flashing neon green light across the road. Realising that this would be his best chance of keeping away from the foul creature that was chasing after him, he dashed across the quiet road and into the pub, shadowed by the dog all the way there.

The man manoeuvred his way through the sea of people at the entrance, briefly finding some small amount of joy in the familiar ambiance of the pub.

The walls were decorated with a green wallpaper covered with leprechauns, shamrocks and pots of gold; he had to admit it was pretty cheesy, but it created the right atmosphere for one of his favourite drinking places

Every man and woman in the pub was holding a pint full of guinness beer, and in the far corner of the bar, there were even a couple of men trying to do a jig in time with the instrumental to ' _C'est La Vie._ ' He made a mental note to keep as far away from them en route to the restroom; he had things to do and the last thing he wanted was to be roped into _dancing_.

All the while he walked through the bar he kept his eyes focussed on his destination; he didn't dare look over his shoulder in case the beast had followed him inside. The last thing he wanted to do on _this day_ was to leave people with the impression that he was weaker and more pathetic than he was sure they already thought he was.

As soon as he was inside the toilets, he slammed the door shut behind him and took a running jump at the window ledge. With great difficulty, and using every ounce of strength he had, he hoisted himself up and managed to move his right leg up to the window, hooking his foot over the window frame.

He took a deep breath before pushing himself up once more, manoeuvring his body so that he was in a horizontal position and after adjusting his grip rolled to the right so that he was dangling from the higher than expected window.

The young man allowed himself to hang there for a few moments before allowing himself to drop to the ground.

From there his journey home was a quiet one, until he was at the bottom of the long and winding path that led to his front door and noticed a rat perched on the step - the same one that had been taunting him day in and day out for the last two weeks.

 _You again!_

 _You're not going to get away from me so easily this time._

He headed straight towards his truck which was still parked in the driveway and grabbed his loaded shotgun from the passenger seat, and aimed it straight at the rodent.

 _That's right,_ he thought to himself, _stay right there and don't move._

He rested his forefinger and middle finger on the trigger, and pulled it towards him.

BANG!

He lowered the shotgun and squinted his eyes slightly. A smile crept onto his face when he saw the unmoving form of the now dead rat.

 _Got you!_

Feeling immensely satisfied with himself, he placed his shotgun back into his truck and made his way into his house, making sure to pick the rodent up and throw into the burgundy waste bin before doing so.

The young man walked straight into the kitchen and filled a large pitcher full of water, and grabbed a glass from the cupboard before settling down in his living room. He took his jacket off and removed the plastic bag full of his drugs. One by one he took the bottles out of the bag and placed them on the table in front of him.

 _Where to start?_

 _Paracetamol?_

 _Aspirin?_

 _My diabetes medication?_

 _Or perhaps something a little stronger?_ he thought, his eyes falling on the bag of cocaine, which still lay unopened on the table from the night before.

He picked up the small bag of white powder and flicked it with his forefinger, before tipping some on to the table and arranging it into a line.

 _May as well start with a bang!_

He lowered his head to the table and pressed his middle finger against the side of his nose. He slowly moved along his line of coke, snorting up the substance as he went and already starting to feel a little better for it.

His eyes moved back to the pill bottles, and he reached out for the nearest one before pouring himself a glass of water. He unscrewed the lid and tipped some of the contents into his hand and tipped them into his mouth.

 _Don't worry my love, we will be together again soon, I promise._

~o~o~o~

Something was wrong.

Neville could feel it in his bones.

He hadn't seen or heard from his friend in days, not since the funeral. He understood that he needed time to grieve, but there was grieving and then there was cutting yourself off completely from the world.

Neville banged on the door insistently.

"Come on, answer the door," he whispered, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

There was no answer, nor any hint of any movement behind the door.

He pushed the letterbox flap backwards, and crouched down.

"Come on, open the door," he called loudly. "It's only me, no one else. I just want to make sure you're okay."

There was no response.

He was either ignoring him, or he had done something really stupid.

 _Looks like I'll have to be a little more forceful,_ he thought to himself sadly.

"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! I CAN SEE YOUR TRUCK IN THE DRIVE!" he yelled, banging his fist hard against the door. "DON'T MAKE ME BREAK THIS DOOR DOWN!"

Still nothing.

"THAT'S IT. I'M COMING IN, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

Neville turned so that he was sideways onto the door and pushed hard against it several times until the lock broke and the door flung open.

He slowly entered the house, and decided to start with the downstairs, trying to ignore the strong stench of alcohol.

Neville pushed open the door that led to the living room and pushed it open. He peeked his head around the door, and any optimism he had that his friend was alright went out of the window.

His friend was passed out on the floor surrounded by several empty pill bottles.

"Seamus," Neville cried, running over to his friend. "What have you done? Seamus?"

Neville pushed the table out of the way and knelt down next to his friend and pressed his fingers to his pulse point.

He could hardly feel a thing.

 _No, no, no! I won't let you quit on me too._

Neville pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled 999, whilst he rolled Seamus onto his back.

From there everything was a blur for Neville.

As he waited for the ambulance to arrive, he performed CPR on Seamus and felt as though he was getting nowhere fast and that any hope he had of saving his friend was fading quickly.

He was just completing the third cycle when he heard the sirens approaching.

… _28, 29, 30._

 _Come on breathe._

He lowered his mouth to Seamus' and blew two long deep breaths into his mouth.

 _Don't worry Seamus, help has arrived._

 _You're going to be alright._

~o~o~o~

Seamus' eyes fluttered open to sound of familiar snoring.

 _I've made it._

His mouth felt dry as he turned over onto his side and croaked, "Dean."

Instead of seeing the familiar, slumbering form of his lost love, his eyes fell on Neville Longbottom.

"You," he said with a scratchy, accusatory voice as the sleeping man snorted in his sleep and jolted himself awake. "Why? Why? Why?"

"I thought you were dead, Seamus," he said, standing up and scooting his chair closer to the bed. "In fact, for a minute or two there you were."

Seamus narrowed his eyes at Neville.

"You should have left me that way," Seamus mumbled.

"Why would I do a thing like that?" Neville asked, feeling appalled at the very idea of leaving his friend for dead.

"Don't you get it you stupid idiot," Seamus screamed. "I wanted to die. At least then I'd be with Dean again."

"Seamus, I know you—"

"Oh, please, shut up. Just this once," Seamus cried out loud. "Yes I miss Dean; of course I miss him, and you just stopped me from being with him again. It feels like the world has let me down. Again. Now, why don't you run along and leave me alone."

Seamus turned over onto his other side so that his back was to his hurt friend, and reached out for the buzzer, pressing down on it for as long as possible until one of the nurses arrived.

"Can you get rid of him please?" he asked.

"Seamus," Neville whispered as the nurse ushered him away. "Please, don't shut me out."

"Sir, I really must insist you leave," the nurse told him.

"Okay, I'll go, but I'll be back tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. I will keep returning until you finally let me see you, and allow me to help you stop drowning in this sea of darkness."

"Whatever," Seamus whispered from the bed as he heard the door to his private room close.

He closed his eyes, and allowed himself to drift into a light sleep.

 _I may not have got to you this time, Dean, but don't worry, even though that damn fool stopped me this time I won't let that deter me from being with you again._

 _I don't care if it takes me days, weeks or even months, we will be reunited once more._


	8. Gymnastics: Uneven Bars - The Heist

**Subject:** Music History Option 1

 **Prompt:** Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

 **Event:** Uneven Bars

 **Mount:** Object - Music Clock (0.2); **Pirouettes:** Action - Staying Silent (0.3), Action - An argument (0.5), Action - Using a Muggle device (0.4); **Release Elements:** Word - Heist (0.6), Word - Jewel (0.5); **Transitions:** Dialogue - "Well, this is a nice change of scenery." / "It's a prison cell." / "I was being sarcastic." (0.5), Dialogue - "What on earth are you doing?" / "Nothing… just livin' on the edge." (0.5), Dialogue - "What does the little blinking light mean?" / "It means… wait, blinking?" (0.5); **Dismount:** (Scenario) Being caught in the act (0.5)

 **Chocolate Frog:** Gold – James Potter – Challenge – Write about James Potter

 **Word Count:** 2590

* * *

The Heist

" _And I'm hungry like the wooooolf."_

"Moony, would you shut that infernal clock up," James snapped, rubbing his temples as he looked up from the blueprints in front of him. "It's breaking my concentration."

"Lighten up, James," Sirius said, clapping him on the back. "I don't even know why you're going over those plans again. We know every inch of the place. We know where every alarm is. And if, for some inexplicable reason we've missed something, we have Remus on the outside to take care of it."

Sirius smiled at the brains of the operation and gave him a cheeky wink.

"Guys, I still think we need another person," Remus said uncertainly from the other side of the room where he was turning off his musical wolf clock.

"Remus, we are The Marauders," James told him with a look of bewilderment on his face. "We are more than capable of pulling this heist off on our own. Remember golden rule number one: no outsiders. It was the one and only thing we could agree on when we got together, and I'm not about to allow it to be broken because you _think_ we need another person. We go tomorrow as planned."

James rolled up the blueprints on the table and gave his friends a pointed look.

"I suggest you boys get an early night too; we have lots to do tomorrow morning," James said with a smile. "And that means no funny business. I can hear you both through the walls you know, and I'd rather not hear _'Oh Sirius, you are a big boy'_ all night long."

"You're only jealous you're not getting any," Remus retorted.

""My boy's got a point, James," Sirius agreed, grabbing Remus' arse. "You keep crashing and burning with the 'Flaming Doe'; it's time to give up and move onto some other talent out there."

"Hey, what we have is special," James said in mock offence. "She's just playing hard to get."

"Nah mate, she's just not that into you," Remus told him whilst his boyfriend nodded his head in agreement.

James shot daggers at the pair as he walked backwards towards the door.

"One day you'll see I was right and I will take great pleasure in telling you I told you so," he said opening the door. "And when we have children, our babies will be smart and beautiful."

"Not to mention imaginary," snorted Sirius.

James gave them one parting glare before exiting the dining room and going up to his bedroom, his mind full of images of the beautiful masked woman with the red hair who had beaten them to their most recent score.

~o~o~o~

"Here, take one of these," Remus said, opening a small plastic box and offering it to James.

"What are these?" James asked, picking up the unfamiliar, circular buds and twirling it around between his forefinger and thumb.

"They're comms, you idiot," Sirius laughed. "You know for a 'leader' you really are quite thick sometimes. Maybe it's time we held a leadership vote?"

"Really? Now? When we're about to pull off probably the biggest job of our lives," Remus said, handing Sirius a comm.

"You're right, darling," Sirius whispered huskily, placing the comm into his ear. "But as soon as this is over, I do think we need to have a vote on whether _this one_ should be our leader if he doesn't even know what a comm is."

"Hey, I know what a comm is," James retorted, defensively. "What I meant was why do we need them? We never used them before."

"Because, this time I'm staying on the outside," Remus explained. "How else am I supposed to communicate with you?"

He raised an eyebrow at James and smiled when his friend struggled to form a response.

"Excellent, so do you want to have a look at the animation I whipped up of how you will progress through the building?" Remus asked.

"Absolutely," the two men chimed.

"Well come and have a look then," Remus said, beckoning them to huddle around him in the fairly spacious van.

Remus talked his friends through where they would be entering the museum from and how long they would have at each 'checkpoint' before the alarms would sound. It was all very technical and the other two Marauders were impressed with what he had managed to whip up over the course of the morning.

It was times like these when it felt as though Remus was really holding back a lot of his talents.

~o~o~o~

"Okay, you should see a red door coming up on your right," Remus told them via the comms. "Stop there and it will be unlocked in a few moments."

James and Sirius continued to walk down the endless corridor towards and came to the door that would lead to the jewel; they could hear Remus tapping furiously on the keys inputting all the data necessary to confuse the security system.

"This is always the worst part," muttered Sirius under his breath.

"What is?" James asked.

"The waiting," he answered. " Don't get me wrong, I have complete faith in my guy, but there's just something about waiting for the little red light to turn green that gets me every time."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," James said, looking up at the balcony longingly.

"Don't tell me you're looking for your one true love?" Sirius laughed, noticing James' attention was elsewhere.

"What, no, of course not," James protested. "That would be so stupid."

"He totally was Pads," Remus chirped in as the light on the keypad turned green. "Make your way in lads and try not to make a mess like last time."

"Hey, that one was all James," Sirius whispered. "He got all gooey eyed and distracted."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Stop bickering. It was both of you," Remus snapped, getting impatient. "Now get in there before I have to reset the alarm, again."

"Yes Sir," James said, saluting the nearby security camera that was being monitored by Remus.

"Moony, I have to say I love this dominant side of you," Sirius said, pushing open the red door. "Maybe next time we role-play, you can be the master and I can be your helpless captive?"

James snorted. "Like that would ever happen."

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Prongs," Remus said, before bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand. "Okay guys, this is where it gets serious. You want to follow the room around until you are directly opposite the door. Make sure you keep to the railing though; remember there are hidden laser beams around the place, and I can only switch them off once, so don't make me do that before you're going for the diamond."

"Roger that, handsome," Sirius whispered, moving closer to the railing and leading James around the perimeter of the display room.

"Beautiful isn't she?" James mused.

"Are you talking about your non-existent Mrs again?" Sirius asked, rolling his eyes.

"No, I'm talking about the Lovegood diamond, you idiot," James retorted, reaching forward and clipping his friend on the back of his head.

"Sure, and oww, that hurt," Sirius whined, rubbing the back of his head.

"Guys, how many times?" Remus hissed. "Cut it out. I can't focus on these lasers with you two constantly being asshats."

"You could do that in your sleep," James told him.

"Not with you two constantly at it," Remus retorted. "Remember what nearly happened at the last heist? If the 'Flaming Doe' hadn't shown up when she did, we would have been done for. So here's what's going to happen now; James you are going to shut up about her, Sirius you are going to stop winding him up, and I am going to turn those lasers off in 5... 4… 3… 2… 1…"

The red lasers flickered in front of James and Sirius' eyes before completely disappearing from view.

"Alright boys, you have exactly two minutes to grab the diamond and get out before the lasers come back on," Remus informed them as they made their way towards the centre of the room. "You don't want to get caught between them because neither of you are the most flexible of people—I still haven't forgotten your humiliating attempts at limbo last year."

"But you've seen how flexible I am between the sheets!" Sirius retorted, leading James across the now laser free floor.

"Uggh!" James exclaimed, wishing the ground would swallow him whole. "I really don't want to know about your bedroom antics; I hear enough of them in the middle of the night."

Blocking out the continuing back and forth between Sirius and Remus, James circled the enclosed diamond.

There was no clear way to remove the casing, which left them only one option.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, noticing what James was about to do.

"Nothing… just livin' on the edge."

James drew his arm across his body and pulled it quickly back the way in came.

"Prongs, no."

His elbow made contact with the glass and shattered it to pieces, and James heard a small groan before his comm went dead. One glance at Sirius' face told him that the same had happened to him as well. They were on their own now.

"What does the little blinking light mean?" Sirius asked as James reached forward and grabbed the Lovegood diamond.

"It means… wait, blinking?" James asked bemused. "Run!"

The duo barely had time to move two paces before a huge metal cage came flying down from the ceiling about them, encasing them in the middle of the room.

"Caught in the act," a voice whispered.

James and Sirius' heads snapped towards the direction of the voice and became blinded by the beam of light coming from a flashlight.

"Let's see how the infamous Marauders fair in a prison cell," he said with a smirk. "And you can put that diamond back where you got it from."

The trapped duo exchanged looks, their expressions mirroring each other completely.

"We're screwed," they both said in unison.

~o~o~o~

"Well, this is a nice change of scenery," Sirius said, leaning back against the cold, bland wall, and placing his arms behind his head.

"It's a prison cell," James answered dryly, raising his eyebrows at his friend.

"I was being sarcastic, Prongs," Sirius told him. "And besides, we wouldn't be here if you hadn't been too eager to get your hands on the Lovegood diamond."

"You're say this is my fault?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"Well, maybe if you and Moony hadn't been so busy flirting, I wouldn't have had to act so rashly."

"Rashly? You smashed the case to smithereens, tripped an alarm and got us banged up," Sirius raved, standing up and moving closer to James. "I'd say you did a little more than act rashly."

The sound of metal clinking halted their bickering as they snapped their heads towards the door of the cell.

"Count yourselves lucky boys," the approaching man said. "You've just been granted temporary bail until a hearing next week. Do you think you can keep yourselves out of trouble until then?"

The confined duo nodded their heads respectfully, just as someone else appeared behind the guard.

"Don't worry; I'll keep them out of mischief."

"Remus," they said in unison as the tall form of the speaker came into full view.

~o~o~o~

The journey to the van was a quiet one. Neither of the three Marauders had much to say.

James and Sirius were bitterly disappointed by the loss of their golden opportunity to seize the Lovegood diamond and really make a name for themselves, whilst Remus was fought the urge to tell them, ' _I told you so'_.

"Rem, I'm sorry," James whispered quietly, breaking the stony silence. "It's all my fault."

"No it isn't, Prongs," Sirius refuted. "It's mine. I should have kept a lid on my lust. A vital job is not the time or the place, and because of me we don't have the Lovegood diamond."

Remus turned to face them as they reached the van.

"Are you quite done blaming yourselves?" he asked. "Because I think you'll find that the heist was a complete success."

"What?" James and Sirius asked in unison, exchanging confused looks.

"I said, the heist was a success," Remus repeated.

"No it wasn't," James said. "In case you missed it, we didn't get the diamond."

Remus raised his eyebrows at his two best friends.

"You might not have, but he did," Remus said, nodding his head to the approaching person.

James and Sirius whipped around to look at the man Remus was indicating towards.

"Him?"

"What?"

"The security guard?"

"Allow me to explain," Remus said, opening the door and climbing into the van.

James and Sirius hopped in after Remus closely followed by the security guard who they were eyeing with a great deal of suspicion, and sat down in the chairs they kept in there.

"First of all, let me introduce you to Peter Pettigrew," Remus said, pointing to the man who had busted them.

Peter gave the duo a shy wave. "Hi guys."

"Peter, why don't you show the boys what you brought for us?" Remus suggested when the other two men made no move to greet him.

James and Sirius watched carefully as Peter placed his hand into his pocket, rooted around for a moment and pulled out the Lovegood diamond.

"What?"

"How?"

"Guys, you were so dead against bringing in another member to our crew," Remus reminded them. "I knew you would never agree to it, so I took matters into my own hands. And after what happened tonight, I think I was right to do so, wouldn't you agree?"

James and Sirius looked down at the ground, knowing full well that Remus had a point.

"Yes," they both said.

"So, would you like to see what you missed?" Remus asked, beckoning them to gather around his computer.

"Absolutely!" they said, jumping up from their seats.

The foursome watched the footage of James and Sirius being carted away in handcuffs, and how Peter used some sleight of hand movements to take the diamond from the broken glass case and place it in his pocket.

"Nice one, Peter," Sirius declared, slapping the newest member of their crew on the back.

"And you know what the best thing is," Remus said once the video finished playing.

"What?" Sirius asked

"They'll be dropping the charges against the pair of you within the next twenty four hours."

"But why?" questioned James. "Why would they do something like that?"

"Because," Remus laughed. "I've wiped any and all footage from their systems, and without their star witness, who incidentally doesn't work at the museum, they'll have no case."

"But the diamond has still been stolen," James stated, feeling rather confused.

He glanced over at Sirius who mirrored his expression completely.

"Has it?" Remus asked, zooming in on the diamond which was still exactly where they left it. "What you're seeing now is an exact replica created by Peter."

"Genius Remus, you absolute genius!" James said, ruffling his friend's hair. "And Peter, excellent job, mate. Welcome to the crew!"

"Yeah, Peter, welcome to the crew," Sirius echoed. "Now, I'm in the mood to celebrate. Shall we get out of here and go to the pub?"

The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement, and Sirius jumped through to the driver's seat to drive them to their favourite ale house.

It was the beginning of a beautiful new partnership.


	9. Gymnastics:Balance Beam-Captured -Sirius

**Event:** Balance Beam

 **Mount:** (Object) A Dagger; **Acrobatics:** (Dialogue) "Off with her head.", (Dialogue) "They're always so sincere when they say that!", (Dialogue) "The universe has a wicked sense of humour."; **Turns:** (Word) Torture, (Word) Destiny, (Word) Devotion; **Leaps and Jumps:** (Location) Star Bucks at Kings Cross, (Location) Hyde Park, London, (Location) Malfoy Manor; **Dismount:** (Scenario) Falsely accused of a crime

 **Chocolate Frog:** Bronze – Norvel Twonk – Prompts – Muggle, Rescue

 **Word Count:** 4226

* * *

Captured

Sirius sighed heavily, realising how well and truly screwed he was.

There was absolutely no way out of his current predicament, and no hope of a rescue, that much was completely clear to him. He had been stitched up like a kipper by someone he had grown to call one of his best friends in the few short months they had known each other.

If only he had known then, what he knew now, he would have acted very differently upon their first meeting.

~o~o~o~

 _He rushed into the coffee shop, stamping his feet at the entrance and pulled down the hood of his raincoat._

 _It was raining heavily outside, so rather than go further afield like he normally did on his lunch, he had opted to go to the quaint, quiet cafe on the corner of the street and keep a close eye on the comings and goings from the office._

 _As he was under-cover on assignment, he was on a no magic ban until further notice whilst out and about in Muggle London; until this very moment he hadn't realised how much he relied on the flick of wand for the simplest things._

 _He strutted towards the counter, admiring several of the Muggle girls as he went. There may have been a war going on, but that didn't mean he couldn't look and appreciate their fine figures._

 _Sirius ordered his coffee and a scone and he was soon seated on the leather couch in the corner of the shop by the window where he had a fantastic view of the street._

" _Umm, excuse me," someone said, "may I join you? Or are you waiting for someone?"_

 _Sirius glanced up from the book he was pretending to read and took in the young man stood before him._

 _He wore…_

" _Yeah, sure," Sirius answered, knowing that if he was going to keep up the appearance of a Muggle man he had no other choice. It was one of the few Muggle customs that he didn't particularly enjoy._

" _Thank you," the man said. "I'm Peter by the way."_

" _Nice to meet you, Peter," he replied with a smile. "I'm Sir—Simon."_

 _Sirius hated his Muggle pseudonym with a passion, and couldn't believe he had almost slipped up with this stranger._

 _He returned his gaze to his book and turned the page, pretending to continue reading._

" _So, Simon, do you work around here?" Peter asked._

 _Sirius sighed to himself and glanced out of the window._

 _This Peter was a chatty Muggle, the worst kind of Muggle he could have encountered when he was keeping an eye on his office._

" _Yes," he answered, planting a forced grin on his face. "And yourself?"_

" _No, in fact I'm new in town so I—"_

 _CRASH!_

 _Sirius' head snapped towards the window just in time to see a familiar greasy haired man sneer as an innocent bystander went flying through the window._

 _He watched on, helpless to do anything, as the man raised his wand and fired another curse at the man._

 _I can't just sit here and do nothing, Sirius thought to himself, but I cannot expose myself as a wizard and ruin all of my months of undercover work. The best I can hope for is to be able to obliviate anyone who witnessed this—starting with this chatty Muggle._

 _He reached into his pocket and felt around for his wand, and slowly pulled it out whilst his 'companion' was otherwise occupied staring at the action on the street._

 _Deciding to let the slimy git on the street know that someone was watching, Sirius silently cast a slightly altered stinging hex and fired it at him suppressing a smirk when it hit him on the back._

 _Sirius watched on as the greasy haired prick looked around with a confused look on his face, before disapparating from sight._

 _Right, now to deal with the Muggle, Sirius thought._

 _Sirius raised his wand slightly so that it was pointing directly at Peter, but before he had the chance to utter the spell, he heard the Muggle say, "Obli—"_

" _You aren't seriously going to obliviate me, are you?" Sirius hissed in outrage, realising that the man who had joined him wasn't a Muggle at all._

" _You—you're a wizard too?" he whispered across the table._

" _I have to go," Sirius announced, standing up, grabbing his and darting from the coffee shop._

 _As he walked at a brisk pace down the street back towards the office, he berated himself internally at how stupid he had been to expose himself—especially to someone whose allegiances he did not know; for all he knew 'Peter' could be working for the other side. It would make sense; Sirius was confident that he knew every witch and wizard around his age in England, good and bad, and he did not recognise 'Peter's' face, which meant one of two things, someone on the dark side had used Polyjuice Potion, or Lord Voldemort had found followers from further afield._

 _How could he have been so foolish?_

 _He should have just silently cast an anti-obliviation charm._

 _There was no way that he could continue his undercover work for the Order now._

 _Suddenly, Sirius tripped up over thin air and landed flat on his face._

 _He reached into his pocket for his wand as he rolled over onto his back, only to find that it wasn't there._

 _How could he have been so stupid as to lose his wand, especially at a time like this?_

" _Fancy seeing you here, Black," a familiar, smug voice said, as the towering figure of Severus Snape loomed, casting a shadow over him._

 _Sirius moved to stand up._

" _A—a—ahh, we'll have none of that," Severus said, and with a wave of his wand Sirius felt an invisible barrier prevent him from moving. "I knew one of your lot was lurking when I got hit by that hex; I was expecting it to be someone like McKinnon or Vance, given how tame it was. I never thought for a second it would be you—you the great Sirius Black using a spell for girls. The only question left is, what to do with you now that I have you here?"_

 _Sirius couldn't believe his luck; not only was he trapped, but he was trapped by Snivellus of all people._

" _Hey, you," a voice called loudly. "Get away from him. Now!"_

 _Severus went flying off to the side, and Sirius squinted his eyes to see the face of his saviour—Peter—who was offering him a hand._

 _Sirius grimaced and nodded his head at the invisible barrier barring him from getting up. With a wave of his wand, Peter vanished the barrier and Sirius straightened himself up, ignoring the hand that was still being offered._

" _And you," Peter hissed, turning around to face Severus who had stood up, "why don't you run along home to mummy?"_

 _Sirius stifled a laugh as an image of 'Snivelly' running towards his mum crying._

" _You'll regret this," Severus yelled. "One day, you'll regret helping that filthy blood traitor."_

" _I don't think so."_

 _Peter flicked his wand and sent a curse flying at Severus, who ducked it just in time for to fly over his head, before spinning on the spot and disapparating with a quiet 'crack'._

" _Hey, Simon," Peter said, turning back towards Sirius. "You dropped this."_

 _Peter held out a wand to Sirius, which he quickly snatched away from him gratefully._

" _Thanks," he whispered, "and the name's actually Black, Sirius Black."_

" _But you—"_

" _I know, but you have to understand we live in dangerous times, Peter," Sirius said, cocking his head to the left indicating that they should walk. "I didn't know you from Adam. For all I knew you could have been one of their lot, but after this, I know you're one of the good guys."_

" _Yeah, I am," Peter answered with a smile. "I mean if I wasn't I wouldn't have returned your wand."_

~o~o~o~

That should have been the time when the alarm bells started ringing; in hindsight everything was too coincidental, with Peter showing up when he did and just happening to 'find' his wand along the way. It wouldn't surprise Sirius if Peter had pick pocketed him in his haste to leave the coffee shop.

Plus, if there was one thing he knew about Severus Snape, it was that he very rarely backed down from a fight, and he had conceded to Peter far too easily.

 _How could I have been so stupid?_ Sirius berated himself, pulling at the ropes that bound him.

He heard the sound of a door opening and closing, and then footsteps on the stairs. He knew what that meant—a fresh wave of torture, questioning and accusations.

~o~o~o~

 _In the days that followed, Sirius introduced Peter to the rest of the Order and he was quickly accepted into the group and was after he was joining Sirius undercover. It had taken some persuading on his part given that he was so new, but upon Sirius stating that he would take full responsibility for Peter and convincing Albus that an extra pair of eyes and ears in The Home Office would be extremely beneficial._

 _Over that time, Sirius got to learn a lot more about Peter particularly in the quiet of the Starbucks at King's Cross Station during the early hours of the morning before the commuters started to arrive._

" _So, Peter," he said as they sat down at an empty table. "I never asked you where you were educated. You're about my age, right? So how come I never saw you around Hogwarts?"_

 _Sirius noticed Peter freeze; the lip of his cup was barely touching his lips. He hesitated for a moment before placing his cup back on his saucer._

" _I—I was—um," Peter started._

" _Go on," Sirius urged, wondering what on earth could be so bad that he was hesitating._

" _IwaseducatedatDurmstrang," Peter said quickly._

" _Come again," Sirius said, furrowing his eyebrows, wondering if he had heard correctly._

" _I was educated at Durmstrang," Peter repeated slowly, lowering his eyes to the ground. "You hate me now, don't you?"_

" _No, of course not," Sirius answered. "Why would you think that?"_

" _Because it has a bad reputation," Peter explained. "I swear it wasn't my choice—it was my father's. He—he told my mother he wanted me closer to him so I could go to his during the school holidays. Him and mum split up when I was five and he rarely visited—too busy with his 'new family'."_

" _Oh Peter, I'm sorry," Sirius said, realising that his father was a sore spot. "And I would never judge you on which school you went to; I've been judged harshly before because of who my family is, so believe me when I tell you that judging people is not very high on my list."_

~o~o~o~

That had been Sirius' second clue, albeit not as big as the first. He had known the reputation of Durmstrang and yet he had allowed himself to be suckered in by Peter's sob story. Sirius wondered if any of that had been true—probably not, it was hard to believe anything that he had said during their brief friendship, no matter how sincere he had seemed at the time.

The footsteps reached the bottom of the steps and Sirius felt the first wave of pain shoot through his body.

He was used to it by now, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.

As he flung his head back when the next wave of the cruciatus curse him, Sirius recalled the fateful day when reality gave him a slap in the face.

~o~o~o~

 _They had finished work earlier than usual, which was a huge feat at The Home Office these days with the amount of paperwork that came their way, but rather than going straight home, Peter had suggested they find a safe spot and apparate to Hyde Park, an area of London he had yet to see._

 _Ordinarily, Sirius would vehemently object knowing the chances of exposure would be high, but he was in an unusually placid mood and convinced himself there was limited risk._

 _And so here they were, walking through the picturesque park without a care in the world._

" _Hey, Sirius, I'm just going to nip to the toilet," Peter said as they passed by the public restroom. "I knew that third coffee was a mistake."_

 _Sirius nodded his head and allowed a chuckle to escape his lips. He was no stranger to Peter's unexpected toilet breaks when he'd had too much coffee._

 _When would the man ever learn his limits?_

" _Okay, I'll just sit over there and wait for you," Sirius answered, before ambling over to the vacant white bench._

 _He whistled a quiet tune to himself as he waited for Peter to return, every so often glancing at his Muggle watch. Peter was certainly taking his time in there._

 _The door to the restroom opened and Sirius hopped up, expecting it to be Peter, only to be disappointed when he saw that it was just some man with shoulder length black hair—who looked a little bit like him—only not as handsome._

 _The man rested against the wall and looked around. He appeared to be waiting for someone._

 _Sirius diverted his attention from the man and decided to take the opportunity to take in the scenery around him._

 _As he glanced to his right, he noticed a familiar person heading in his direction—James._

 _Before he could react to seeing his best friend, the man who was leaning against the wall swiftly moved towards the approaching wizard, drawing a dagger from the inside of his cloak and grabbed James. He quickly moved the dagger across the width of James' throat, before throwing him to the ground, and running away from the scene._

 _Sirius jumped up from the bench and dashed over to his friend who was lying on the ground with blood spilling out of his neck, creating a pool around his head and shoulders._

 _Passers-by stopped and stared as Sirius cradled his friend in his arms, wishing that he could whip his wand out and seal the wound, but even that would not be enough to save James—he was gone before Sirius had reached him._

" _James—no," he sobbed, pressing his hand against the wound. "Please let this be one of your less humorous pranks. Open your eyes and look at me."_

 _He knew that it was pointless to even consider the option, but Sirius was attempting to cling on to any small piece of hope._

 _Sirens could just about here the soft murmurings of the gathering crowd over the approaching sirens._

" _Did you see that?"_

" _He killed him."_

" _Just slit his throat."_

" _He did it in cold blood."_

" _What a monster."_

 _Sirius couldn't agree more with them. Whoever had done this deserved to die a slow and painful death and Sirius would hand it out himself._

" _Out of our way," a voice boomed._

 _Sirius glanced up momentarily to see two police officers making their way through the separating crowd, closely followed by a group of paramedics._

" _Does anyone know what happened here?"_

" _It was him," someone accused, pointing at Sirius. "He killed that man."_

" _What?" Sirius cried. "No I didn't. He's my best friend."_

" _Well we'll let the CCTV answer that question," the police officer said, moving closer to him. "But until then, you're going to have to come with us."_

" _The universe has a wicked sense of humour," Sirius muttered to himself as he was led away from the body of his best friend, towards the police car._

 _~o~o~o~_

 _Three hours had passed since his best friend had been murdered right in front of his very eyes._

 _Three hours had passed since the crowds had wrongfully accused him of the crime._

 _Three hours had passed since he had been arrested by the Muggle police and carted off in handcuffs._

 _Sirius threw his head into his hands as the police officer re-entered the room to begin another round of questioning._

" _So, Mr White," the police officer began, addressing him by his undercover name, "are you ready to finally confess to your crimes?"_

" _What crimes?" Sirius asked. "I'm innocent."_

" _They're always so sincere when they say that!" the police officer chuckled to his partner. "Unfortunately, for you Mr White, we have concrete evidence to the contrary."_

 _He waved a video tape in front of Sirius._

" _Shall we have a look at just how 'innocent' you are," he said, placing the tape into the potable television._

 _The police officer pressed play and began to play the footage from that afternoon._

" _See, that right there, is you," he said, pausing the video. "That is you, holding the dagger—which by the way we have in evidence with your fingerprints on—about to slit the victim's throat. Do you still expect us to believe that you are innocent?"_

 _Sirius shook his head, "No, no, that's not me. If you play it just a little longer, I run over to James from the other direction. Surely you saw that on the footage."_

" _Afraid not," the police officer grimaced, "the footage cuts out a few seconds from this moment. You may as well confess your guilt now, Mr White, and get this over and done with. If not for your sake, then for your victim's family."_

" _Why should I confess to something I didn't do?" Sirius asked, running his hands through his hair._

 _The police officer sighed._

" _I can see we are getting nowhere with this, perhaps after a night in the cells you'll be more willing to admit your crime," he said. "Interview terminated at 6:05pm. Take him down to holding Inspector."_

 _Sirius allowed the inspector to grab him by the arm and escort him down to cells without a fight._

 _~o~o~o~_

 _Sirius got very little sleep that night._

 _He kept going over and over the events of the day and how it was possible that someone who looked exactly like him—but wasn't him—could be on the footage. Most of all Sirius couldn't figure out why this had happened to James, but one thing became sure of as the night progressed was that whoever had committed this crime had to have had some help. There was no other way that they could have caught James unaware like that._

 _The rattling of the door jolted Sirius back into reality._

" _Okay White, you're free to go," the police officer from the previous night said. "May I offer you my sincerest apologies for keeping you overnight."_

" _What?" Sirius asked, unable to understand what was happening._

" _I said, you're free to go, Mr White," the officer repeated. "You can collect your belongings at the front desk on your way out."_

 _Sirius nodded head, realising that someone within the Order must have intervened on his behalf._

" _Thank you."_

 _The officer escorted Sirius up to the front desk and once all the necessary paperwork had been signed, he made his way out into the street where the sun was shining brightly._

 _As his eyes surveyed the street, they fell on the stocky figure of Peter Pettigrew and suddenly everything fell into place._

 _The man that looked like him—that was easily achievable by the means of Polyjuice Potion, and Peter had every opportunity to take a few of his hairs given how much time they had been spending together in recent weeks. Plus, he had come from the same place where Peter had gone moments ago._

 _It had been Peter's idea to go to Hyde Park by the means of apparition—something that Sirius would usually be dead set against; and now that Sirius thought about Peter had been within the vicinity when James had mentioned that he would be on assignment there._

 _And then there was how quickly the paperwork at The Home Office—it had almost been like magic—and if you're a wizard that is easily achieved._

 _Sirius couldn't believe it—everything that had transpired in the last twenty four hours had been Peter's doing._

" _It was you," he whispered, reaching for his wand. "You killed James!"_

 _Peter's face changed from a broad grin to a sneer in the blink of an eye._

" _Well, it took you long enough to figure it out," he snarled. "Unfortunately, now that you know, I cannot have you revealing my allegiances to the Order—not after you worked so hard to get me accepted."_

 _Before Sirius could draw his wand from the inside of his jacket, he felt a fist connect with his face and then he succumbed to the darkness._

~o~o~o~

He had awoken hours later in the basement he was currently being held in, which he had quickly learnt was located at Malfoy Manor.

Ever since then, all he had known was torture, questions and agony.

"Oh come on Sirius," a voice drawled. "Save yourself from further pain and tell us what you know."

"Never!" Sirius spat at the blond man. "If you're so desperate for information, why don't you ask that filthy traitor?"

"There's only so much that Peter can ask about without arousing suspicion," he answered. "It would seem that the recent death of one of their own, coupled with you own 'disappearance' has got them quite on edge. Now, tell me Sirius, who is this undercover agent in our ranks that Peter has heard so much about?"

Sirius heard a fresh pair of footsteps coming down the stairs to the basement, and then a familiar voice say, "Oh, come on, can't we just kill him?"

"Nice to see you too, cousin," Sirius said.

"Bellatrix," snapped his torturer, "if you're going to be down here, you either sit down over there and keep quiet, or participate in the torture without engaging with him."

"Aww, you guys a no fun," pouted Bellatrix, drawing out her wand. "Crucio."

Sirius bit his tongue to keep the screams of pain that were begging to pass his lips at bay. This was by far the worst wave of cruciatus curse that he had experienced in his time in the basement.

"Lucius, this isn't going to work," a new arrival whispered from the side. "Look at him; the only way he will ever spill his guts is if Severus whips up and brings a batch of veritaserum over."

"An excellent idea, Peter, perhaps you aren't so thick after all," Lucius said. "Send for Severus immediately."

Sirius didn't know how long it was until Snape arrived; time had no meaning for him anymore. All he knew was that it was the most anxious he had felt in all his time at Malfoy Manor—torture he could deal with, but he didn't know how long he would be able to last fighting against the power of a truth potion.

"Ahh, Severus, did you bring the potion?" Lucius asked moments after he arrived.

Severus' mouth curled into a smile.

"Of course I did, and I see that it's for Black, how—interesting," he replied, uncorking the potion bottle. "May I do the honours?"

Lucius gave Severus a curt nod, and the black haired man stalked over towards him and forced his mouth open, tipping the contents of it in.

He felt Severus' hands clamp his mouth shut.

No matter how hard Sirius fought the urge to swallow, after less than a minute of fighting against it.

"How long before it takes effect?" Lucius asked impatiently.

"The potion should work almost instantaneously," Severus answered.

"Excellent," Lucius said, smiling. "Let's start with an easy question shall we, Black? Tell me, where else do the Order have undercover agents?"

Sirius bit down hard on his tongue; he couldn't expose his friends.

"I—I," Sirius started, deciding it was at least worth a try to lie, "I don't know."

 _What? I lied! How is that possible?_ Sirius thought to himself, his eyes flickering towards Severus Snape. _It couldn't be, it shouldn't be, not unless—_

Sirius barely managed to hold in the gasp as he realised who Dumbledore's secret undercover operative was.

"Very well, let's try another," Lucius said, seemingly disappointed. "Who does the prophecy refer to—surely Dumbledore has told you that at least?"

Sirius raised his chin and looked Lucius in the eye.

"Afraid not."

Sirius suppressed a smirk as he took note of Lucius' displeasure.

More questioning followed and Sirius found that he quite enjoyed being able to lie so freely and convincingly to the 'most trusted servants' of Lord Voldemort.

"Oh can we kill him now?" Bellatrix shrieked. "Look at him, the pathetic weasel knows nothing."

"Very well," Lucius sighed. "He's no use to the Dark Lord. It would appear as though Dumbledore is playing his cards closer to his chest that we anticipated."

Bellatrix danced around with glee.

"Off with her head—whoops, I mean his head."

"No Bella," snapped Lucius. "Make it quick and clean—any messes and you will be the one cleaning it up."

Sirius held his breath and turned his head towards Bellatrix, looking her directly in the eye. There was no way out for him now—if it was his destiny to die here and now, then at least he would know that his devotion to the Order would not be able to be called into question.

"Okay, fine," Bellatrix half whined. "Avada kedavra."


	10. Rowing: Coxed 8 - My Angel - Bathilda

**Event:** Rowing: Coxed 8

 **Prompt:** Angel

 **Character:** Bathilda Bagshot

 **Chocolate Frog:** Silver - Bathilda Bagshot - Challenge - Write about Bathilda and her relationship with Gellert Grindelwald

 **Word Count:** 1010

* * *

My Angel

Bathilda sat across from the headmaster of Durmstrang with a smile on her face.

It had been less than twenty four hours since she had received an owl from the man in front her requesting a face to face meeting with her. The only snippet of information she had was that it had something to do with her darling nephew.

"Ms Bagshot," he began, looking everywhere except directly in her eyes.

"Bathilda please," she insisted. "There's no need for such formalities."

"Okay, Bathilda," he said. "I guess I should start by explaining exactly why I've called this meeting with you."

"Yes, that would be much appreciated; your owl mentioned something about my nephew, Gellert," she answered. "Is my little angel alright?"

The headmaster bit his lip and Bathilda noticed that he had a look of worry in his eyes.

"Headmaster, my nephew? What's happened?" she asked.

"It's difficult," the headmaster started. "You see, Gellert has been a—disruptive influence on the other students."

"No, no, that cannot be right," Bathilda refuted. "Gellert is an angel. He is the most well behaved child I know. And believe me headmaster, I have known a lot of children in my time."

"Maybe the old Gellert was," the headmaster said. "But ever since his parents passed away last year, it's as though he's become a different boy."

"Of course he's going to be different, his parents are dead!" Bathilda exclaimed. "But he still the same angelic boy he always was."

"Ms Bagshot, I'm afraid you have blinkers on when it comes to that boy."

"I most certainly do not!" Bathilda cried.

"Ms Bagshot, your nephew cursed several members of the student body—"

"An attempt to help them learn, I'm sure," Bathilda stated, cutting the headmaster off.

"Really, Ms Bagshot, you're going to defend the usage of an unforgivable curse on several other students?" the headmaster asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Did you witness this alleged occurrence?"

"No—"

"Then how can you be sure that my angel of a nephew committed this offence? Has he even had an opportunity to defend himself?"

"The other children involved are some of the most honest and genuine that I have ever had the pleasure of teaching," the headmaster said.

"So in other words no," Bathilda stated, raising an eyebrow at the man. "Where is Gellert now?"

"For the safety of the other children, he is being roomed separately from them and he has been confined there until further notice, without his wand."

"How dare you segregate him from the other students!" Bathilda exclaimed feeling appalled, jumping to her feet. "I would like to see my nephew. Immediately!"

"An excellent idea, Ms Bagshot, Gellert should be here for the next bit," the headmaster said in an even voice, clapping his hands together to summon his personal house-elf, who appeared almost instantaneously with a quiet _'crack'_. "Ahh Perky, please could you fetch Master Grindelwald from his room."

"Perky will go straight away," the house-elf answered with a bow, before disappearing from the office with a _'crack'_.

Bathilda paced the width of the office whilst they waited for the arrival of her nephew. With every passing moment, she could feel her annoyance and displeasure with the headmaster grow. She could barely bring herself to look at him let alone exchange words with the man who was attempting to sully the name of nephew.

By the time Perky the house-elf arrived back at the office with Gellert, Bathilda was fast approaching boiling point.

"Knock knock," rang the angelic voice of her nephew Gellert. "You wanted to see me, headmaster. Aunt Bathilda, what are you doing here?"

"Take a seat, Gellert," the headmaster instructed.

"A please would be nice," Gellert muttered, throwing himself into the chair

"Excuse me?" the headmaster asked, rising to his feet.

"I believe my nephew was reminding you of you manners, headmaster," Bathilda snapped, offering her sweet nephew a smile. "It's called common courtesy, as is listening to everyone's side of the story before dishing out undeserved punishments."

"Well said, Aunt Bathilda," Gellert cheered. "Stick it to the man."

"Shut up you insolent child," the headmaster cried. "I have had just about enough of you and your backchat, but most of all I have had enough of seeing you in my office every other day for breaking the school rules. I have tolerated your diabolical behaviour for long enough, and the most recent event is the last straw. I cannot be seen to allow a child who freely using unforgivable curses on fellow students remain in my school."

The headmaster's gaze shifted from Gellert to Bathilda.

"It is at this point I come to the reason for asking you here today Ms Bagshot," the headmaster stated. "I am left with no other choice but to expel Gellert. I want you to take your _angel_ of a nephew from this school immediately. You will find that his belongings are all packed and sitting just outside the door."

"Excuse me?" Bathilda seethed. "Are you having a laugh, headmaster?"

"No. Please leave," he said waving his hand in a dismissive way.

"Oh, don't you worry, we're going to leave. Quite frankly, I wouldn't want to leave my nephew in this school a second longer than I have to, but first I have a few things to say."

Bathilda took a deep breath and offered her nephew a smile.

"You, sir, are a completely incompetent and disgraceful headmaster. You have victimised my darling nephew without cause or reason. You are making unfounded accusations and it is unbecoming of someone the students here look to for guidance. I cannot and will not allow this to stand. By the time I am done with you, you'll be lucky if you can a job as a cleaner. Your name will be worth nothing in the wizarding world."

Bathilda stalked over to the headmaster's desk and claimed her nephew's wand, before spinning on the spot and walking towards the door.

"Come Gellert, we are leaving. You'll get a much finer education from me anyway."


	11. Rowing: Coxed 8 - Cream of Destruction

**Event:** Rowing: Coxed 8

 **Prompt:** (Setting) Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour

 **Character:** James Potter

 **Chocolate Frog:** Silver - Dexter Fortescue - Challenge - Use the location of Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in your story

 **Word Count:** 612

* * *

Cream of Destruction

James Potter sat at one of the tables outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and glanced at his watch. If McKinnon had given Sirius the correct information— and he was almost certain that she had since she'd had the hots for him for the last two years— Evans would be arriving in Diagon Alley in the next five minutes.

He had a perfect plan and it was the one that he knew would finally win her heart. And Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour would forever be known as the place the greatest love story of our time finally began.

After all, a great man—okay Sirius—once said, "The way to a woman's heart is through ice cream."

He saw a flash of flaming red hair and jumped to his feet.

"Evans," he called, giving a signal to Florean Fortescue to start bringing out the ice cream before chasing her down the street and grasping her by the hand.

"Get your hands off me, Potter!" Lily exclaimed, hitting him on the arm.

James ignored her and carried on tugging her in the direction of the ice cream parlour. Once he reached the table that was now half full of bowls of ice cream, he pushed Lily gently on the shoulders until she sat down, before taking a seat opposite her

"Potter, what is this?" Lily snapped.

"These are for you, my sweet Lily," James said with a smile.

"I'm lactose intolerant, you moron," Lily hissed across the table at the irritating seventeen year old. "Once again, the great James Potter proves what an imbecile he is."

"Huh?" James asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "What's Lasto intolerant?"

Lily sighed. "It means that I can't have anything with dairy in it like, for example, ice cream," she explained, nodding her head at the bowls in front of her. "And it's lactose, not lasto."

Lily pushed her chair away from the table and started to stand up until James reached his hand out and grabbed her wrist.

"No, wait," he said quickly. "Sit back down."

James pulled the ice cream that had been set in front of Lily towards him and dug the spoon in, heaping as much onto it as possible.

"I will eat all this ice cream for you; I won't let any of it touch you, I swear," he declared, pushing the spoon full of ice cream into his mouth. "Oh, so cold! So, so cold"

Lily sat back in her chair with an amused expression on her face as James started to make his way through the second bowl of ice cream.

"What exactly are you trying to achieve?" she asked.

"Roanicgeser," James said, swallowing some strawberry ice cream.

"Come again?" Lily laughed.

"I'm making a romantic gesture, Evans," James told her. "I'm saving you from sure and certain death by eating all this cream of destruction."

Lily stifled a laugh.

"James lactose intolerance can't kill you," she informed him as he continued to wolf down the ice cream. "It just causes—undesirable reactions. A lot like you do."

"I can imagine anything undesirable coming from you," James answered flirtatiously.

"Anyway, I can't say this has been as unpleasant as it usually is being in your company, but I have places to be, Potter," Lily told him, standing up. "Next time you want to make a romantic gesture, here's a little bit of advice—don't listen to Sirius. Enjoy your 'cream of destruction'."

James dropped the spoon back into the dish and as she walked away from him only two things were running through his mind:

 _How did she know he was following Sirius' advice? And why did his head hurt so much?_


	12. Rowing: Coxed 8 - Champion

**Event:** Rowing - Coxed 8

 **Prompt:** (Object) Laurel Wreath

 **Character:** Percy Weasley

 **Chocolate Frog:** Silver - Percy Weasley - Challenge - Write about Percy Weasley

 **Word Count:** 351

* * *

Champion

Percy Weasley stood tall and proud off to the side of the stage as he waited to be called up to be presented with the ceremonial laurel wreath. He couldn't wait to show the whole of Greece that someone could triumph in the Olympics as well as be a highly intelligent individual.

In the world they lived in at the moment you were either one or the other, there was no in between, and he had just become the first renowned playwright to become an Olympic champion, and his chosen discipline was the javelin.

"And the winner of the javelin throw, with an impressive forty metres, is Percival Weasley," the King's announcer declared.

The arena broke out into applause and Percy felt his cheeks flush red as he started to walk up the steps. His legs felt like jelly and he was certain that they were about to buckle underneath him.

 _Breathe, Percy, breathe._

He straightened up his back and lifted his chin, and carried on walking up the steps, taking long, deep breaths as he went. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of his mother, Molly, smiling and clapping with the rest of the audience, surrounded by his brothers and sister, and he felt a smile creep up onto his face. It meant a lot to him that she was here to celebrate his achievement, especially since the arenas wouldn't allow women in to spectate at any of the Olympic events.

He came to a stop in front of the princess and allowed her to place the laurel wreath upon his head, his smile growing broader by the second.

"Once again, ladies and gentlemen of Olympia," the King's announcer cried, "your Olympic champion, Percival Weasley."

Percy took a deep bow before making his exit from the stage so that they could announce the winner of the discus throw.

This truly was a momentous day for him and it was one that would stay with him forever, and he hoped that four years from now he would be in exactly the same position he was now.


	13. Rowing: Coxed 8 - Chocolate Cake

**Event:** Rowing - Coxed 8

 **Prompt:** (Dialogue) "You're all I need. You're more important than chocolate cake to me."

 **Character:** Ron Weasley

 **Chocolate Frog:** Gold - Ronald Weasley - Challenge - Write about Ronald Weasley

 **Word Count:** 284

* * *

Chocolate Cake

"Ron," Lavender said, sitting down next to her boyfriend in the Great Hall. "Are you losing interest in me?"

"What? Why would you think that, Lav?" Ron asked, digging into his cake.

"You never have any time for me anymore," she stated as though it was the most obviously thing in the world. "You spend all your time with _her_."

"With whom?" Ron asked with his mouth full of cake.

" _Hermione 'I'm so clever' Granger_ , that's who," she snapped, giving him a look that clearly said, 'are you actually kidding me?'

Ron sighed to himself. Having a girlfriend was a lot of hard work, and he was finally starting to realise why Harry had so many issues with Cho-even if those were of a completely different variety. Girls were confusing, annoying, and in Lavender's case, clingy.

Almost on a daily basis Ron found himself saying anything and everything to Lavender just to stop her moaning and complaining. And whenever that failed he'd pull her in for a snog.

"Lav, quit worrying," Ron said, sticking his fork into the delicious dessert on his plate. "You're more important that chocolate cake to me. And I never say that to anyone."

Lavender scoffed loudly and threw Ron a filthy look as he shovelled more and more cake into his mouth.

"Try telling me that when you're not stuffing your face full of chocolate cake," Lavender hissed before standing up and storming away from her boyfriend.

Ron swallowed the cake, and looked between his departing girlfriend and the enticing, mouth watering, chocolate cake.

He shrugged his shoulders and dug his fork back into her cake and continued to eat it. She needed some time to cool off anyway.


	14. Rowing: Coxed 8 - Why do You Bother?

**Event:** Rowing - Coxed 8

 **Prompt:** (Object) A Cello

 **Character:** Lucretia Prewett

 **Chocolate Frog:** Silver - Lucretia Prewett (nee Black) - Challenge - Write about Lucretia Prewett

 **Word Count:** 267

* * *

Why Do You Bother?

Lucretia rested the cello against her shoulder and ran her fingers along the strings. She adored the sound that came from it and the feeling of the strings vibrating against her skin.

She cast her eyes to the book on the stand in front of her and followed the notes, creating the most beautiful and sorrowful tune that she had ever heard.

A knock at her door broke her out of the little bubble she had created for herself.

"Come in," she called.

"Lucretia, what are you doing?" her brother, Orion, asked as he entered her bedroom.

"Nothing," she answered. "Just playing the cello."

"Why do you bother with that thing?" Orion questioned, taking a seat on her bed

"Because I enjoy the music," she answered, smiling at her brother

"No, you misunderstand Luc," Orion said. "Why do you bother physically playing it? With a flick of your wand you could have it playing any tune you want and you could sit back and enjoy it."

"That's the easy option, Orion," Lucretia stated. "I enjoy working at something and knowing that I've achieved it all by myself."

"Really?" Orion asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yes Orion; magic can bring a lot of things, but it can't give you the feeling I get whenever I play the cello and know that I've achieved this knowledge through my own hard work," Lucre

tia explained

"Okay," Orion said, standing up. "I'll leave you to it then."

Lucretia gave her little brother a smile as he left the room, before resuming playing the cello and getting lost in the music once more.


	15. Rowing: Coxed 8 - Give Me That!

**Event:** Rowing - Coxed 8

 **Prompt:** (Dialogue) "Give me that fucking thing before you break it!"

 **Character:** James Sirius Potter

 **Chocolate Frog:** Bonus - James Sirius Potter - Challenge - Write about James Sirius Potter

 **Word Count:** 254

* * *

Give Me That!

"James Sirius Potter, you come back here right now," cried Rose, chasing after him around the Gryffindor Common Room.

The entire common room stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the next big argument between the two cousins, intrigued to know if this would be the moment that world war three broke out.

"Aww Rosie Posie, why so stressed?" he said, throwing up the delicate, glass snow globe and catching it by the tip of his fingers.

"Give me that fucking thing before you break it!" Rose yelled, feeling her heart in her throat as her annoying cousin nearly dropped her snow globe again.

It really did amaze her at times that he had made onto the Quidditch team.

"Oooh, don't let mummy and daddy hear you swearing," James whispered, pretending to drop the snow globe. "They'll think Scorpius has had a bad influence on you."

"You're asking for it, James," Rose threatened, narrowing her eyes. "Do you want me to tell everyone about that one time when you were six and you—?"

"Okay okay, here's your snow globe," James said, holding it out towards her. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

"Thank you," Rose answered, taking it out of his hand. "And just so you know, next time you try anything like this, I won't hesitate to tell everyone about your most embarrassing moments."

James glared at his younger cousin, unable to believe that she had gotten the better of him. Next time she wouldn't be so lucky.


	16. Rowing: Coxed 8 - Mother-in-law In White

**Event:** Rowing - Coxed 8

 **Prompt:** (Word) Change

 **Character:** Fleur Delacour

 **Chocolate Frog:** Silver - Fleur Delacour - Challenge - Write about Fleur Delacour

 **Word Count:** 1038

 **Notes:** Slight AU where Bill never got maimed by Greyback. And a fairly OoC(ish) Molly

* * *

Mother-in-law In White

Fleur stared at herself in the floor length mirror and smoothed down her dress. It was her wedding day to her dear William and rather than it being a happy occasion surrounded by her bridesmaids as she always imagined, she was in the room alone.

Her little sister Gabrielle and her mother had already left the room to go down to the marque.

She glanced at the time on the clock and noted that it was almost time for her to descend the stairs and prepare to make her entrance. The only person missing now was her father.

There was a quiet knock on the door and Fleur smiled at her reflection.

 _This is it!_ she thought to herself.

"Come in," Fleur called, thinking that it would be her father arriving to inform her that the guests were ready for her.

As the door creaked open, she noticed that the figure reflected in the mirror was not that of her father, but a woman wearing a pure white wedding dress.

"Mrs Weasley," Fleur said, turning around to look at her future mother-in-law. "What are you wearing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Molly asked, turning around to give Fleur a good look at her dress.

"Why aren't you wearing your beautiful bridesmaid dress?" she questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Oh that, I gave it to Luna," Molly answered with a broad fake smile. "She took quite the shine to it earlier and well it was a little—snug on me, so I thought she might get better use out of it. Besides don't you think this looks a lot better on me?"

"No, no I do not, I think it makes you look—desperate," Fleur answered with a frown. "I must insist you change out of that—that monstrosity and wear the dress I chose for you. Mrs Weasley, I know that you have never liked me, but I will not have you upstaging me on my own wedding day. I love William and want to make him as happy as he makes me, but you—you refuse to let that happen. Why?"

"Why?" Molly shrieked. "I thought that would be perfectly obvious to you. You are not good enough for my son—for my Bill. You could never make him happy."

"Like it or not, William and I love each other and will be man and wife," Fleur argued back, taking a step closer to Molly. "Now, take that dress off now, before I take it off you myself."

"How dare you tell me what to do?" Molly asked, narrowing her eyes at Fleur and stepping towards her.

"How dare you try to ruin mine and William's wedding day?"

"How—?"

"Ladies, ladies, calm down," boomed the jovial voice of Fleur's father from the doorway. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Papa," Fleur greeted, smiling at him. "Look, look at this. Look at her dress."

Monsieur Delacour nodded his head and surveyed the situation, giving Molly a disapproving look.

"She won't change, will she father?" Fleur asked tearfully. "Today it's the dress, but tomorrow there'll be something else."

Fleur glanced at her Molly and then at her own reflection in the mirror, and sighed. She knew what she had to do, but that didn't make it any easier to vocalise her decision.

"I can't do this," she whispered, blinking back her tears. "You win, Mrs Weasley. As much as I love William and want us to be happy together, I can see that will never happen—not whilst you are your whole family aside from Ronald and Arthur disapprove so much. I must go and see William, now."

Fleur accepted a supportive hug from her father before leaving the bedroom, ready to inform her beloved William of the biggest and hardest decision she had ever had to make.

~o~o~o~

"Do you truly hate my daughter that much?" Monsieur Delacour asked as he watched his daughter depart the bedroom on the brink of tears. "Do you care nothing for your son's happiness? Or have you not stopped for one second to think about him in all of this?"

"I am thinking about my son, Monsieur," Molly retorted. "All I want is for him to be as happy as Arthur and I have been all these years."

"What makes you think that he isn't already?" Monsieur Delacour asked, furrowing his eyebrows at her. "Has he ever given you a reason to think that he's unhappy?"

"No," Molly admitted.

"Then stop going out of your way to ruin our children's special day and apologise to her," Monsieur Delacour ordered. "And then change out of that ridiculous dress."

Molly nodded her head and hastily walked out of the bedroom, following Fleur down the flight of stairs as she realised that she had become a version of her own mother-in-law—someone who she had vowed she would never become.

~o~o~o~

She had made it halfway down the stairs before the sound of Molly voice calling, "Wait," stopped her in her tracks.

"What do you want, Mrs Weasley?" she asked, turning around on the the spot.

"Don't call off the wedding, please," Molly begged.

"Why not?" Fleur asked. "I thought you would be happy? Isn't this what you wanted all along, for me not to marry your precious William?"

"I thought it was, but—I was wrong," Molly stated, offering Fleur a small smile

"I'm sorry, you were what?"

"I was wrong. You make my son happy and that is all I have ever wanted," Molly told her. "You may not be the one I would have chosen for him, but if my son loves you then I accept you. I'm just sorry it took me so long to realise."

Fleur took a step back, almost falling down the stairs as the words left Molly's lips.

"Oh, Mrs Weasley that is all I've ever wanted," Fleur answered with a smile, tears of joy trickling down her cheeks.

"Now, you make your way down to the marque and I shall join you shortly," Molly instructed as Monsieur Delacour joined them on the stairs. "I have a bridesmaid dress to change into."

"Thank you, Mrs Weasley," Fleur whispered, walking up the few steps that separated them and giving her a hug.


	17. Rowing: Coxed 8 - Drinks With Alph

**Event:** Rowing - Coxed 8

 **Prompt:** (Setting) The Leaky Cauldron

 **Character:** Sirius Black

 **Chocolate Frog:** Bronze - Alphard Black - Challenge - Write about Alphard's relationship with Sirius

 **Word Count:** 1595

* * *

Drinks With Alph

Sirius marched down the street, never casting a glance backwards at the hellhole he had called 'home' for the last seventeen years of his life. He could still hear his mother's shrieks and cries about what a disappointment he was as he reached the end of the street.

He looked left and right, checking that the road was clear before drawing out his wand out of his pocket and stretching his arm out into the middle of the road.

Sirius took a short step backwards away from the edge of the pavement just as the Knight Bus arrived. He chuckled to himself as he imagined the look that would grace his mother's face if she could see him now, preparing to travel on the 'Muggle monstrosity'.

The doors to Knight Bus fluttered open and Sirius picked his truck up and carried it on board.

"Where to, mate?" the conductor asked him.

"The Leaky Cauldron," Sirius answered, realising that it would be rude of him to bother the Potters' at this time of night.

He would write a letter to them first thing in the morning, knowing that James would want every last detail of his explosive row with his mother—in many respects he was worse than a girl when it came to wanting gossip.

"That will be 20 sickles," the conductor said. "Would you like refreshments during your journey? A drink perhaps, or a snack?"

"No thank you," Sirius answered, reaching into his pocket and handing over the money. "Keep the change."

Sirius dragged his trunk behind him as he made his way towards his seat come bed and lay down on it.

As the bus trundled along, Sirius struggled to get comfortable on the lumpy bed and tossed and turned as he tried to get some rest—something that was already difficult enough with the consistent jolting of the bed.

 _Some things never change_ , he thought to himself.

The journey could not end quickly enough for Sirius who found himself wishing that he had passed his apparition test—he still couldn't quite believe that he'd been given a straight fail by the examiner; all he had done was ask her if there was _anything_ he could do to guarantee a pass—he may also have made a few other comments, but nothing worth losing the chance to take his test.

The Knight Bus grinded to a halt, "Leaky Cauldron," called the conductor.

Sirius thanked whatever deity was watching over him for keeping him safe during his journey and jumped to his feet.

"Thanks," he said to the driver, before muttering quietly to himself as he disembarked the bus, "for almost killing me."

He walked towards the Leaky Cauldron and pushed open the door. Sirius quickly found himself smiling at the familiar hustle and bustle of the pub as he approached the bar.

"Evening Tom," he greeted the bartender. "Got a spare room for the night?"

"Another fight with your family?" Tom asked as he grabbed a key.

"Not just another fight, Tom," Sirius answered, accepting the key. "The final fight—my mother is probably blasting my name off the family tree as we speak, if she hasn't already done so."

"Well, you always have a room here," the bartender answered. "Would you like anything sending up to your room, Master Black?"

"No thanks, Tom," Sirius replied, "but could I order the usual for breakfast?"

"Absolutely, Master Black," Tom said. "Corn Flakes—" Sirius gave Tom a pointed look; the bartender sighed and whispered, "Okay, Porn Flakes, it is."

"Thank you, Tom," Sirius said with a smile. "I'll see you in the—porning."

A couple of the men sitting at the bar chuckled lightly as Sirius charmed his trunk and made his way up to his room.

As soon as he reached his room, Sirius settled down at the small desk and wrote a quick letter to his favourite uncle, Alphard, to inform him of the recent developments at home.

 _Dear Uncle Alphard,_

 _Things at home have gone to shit! Again!  
My mum—well you've met her so nothing I say about her in this letter should surprise you. Once again, she started comparing me to my wannabe-Death Eater brother and criticised my life choices. And father—well he just sat there and listened! Nothing new there._

 _But then she started on my friends—especially Remus and you know how I feel about him Alph, I couldn't let her insult him and disrespect him._

 _So I let her have it and then walked out._

 _Before you try and convince me to go home—again, I'm telling you now that that is not going to happen._

 _I'm staying at The Leaky Cauldron tonight._

 _I'd love to see you and talk if you'd like to join me after breakfast—maybe even slag my mother off some more if you want._

 _Your favourite nephew,_

 _Sirius_

He then wrote a similar, but more colourful letter to James before attaching them both to his trusty owl, letting her fly off into the night sky and settling down for the night in the familiar bed.

~o~o~o~

Sirius awoke the next morning more refreshed and calmer than he had all summer, feeling more than content in the fact that he wouldn't be having round number two with his mother.

He jumped out of bed and the first thing he saw was two letters sitting on the desk: the first from Alphard informing him that he would be arriving at The Leaky Cauldron at twelve o'clock on the dot, and the second from James pretty much ordering him to come to the Potter household and live with him.

Sirius had the most pleasant morning he'd had in a long time: he had his favourite breakfast—something that he never got when he was at home, then he spent a few hours in Diagon Alley browsing through the stores—something that was not allowed in his family since 'browsing made you no better than Muggle scum', and then he enjoyed an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. If this was what freedom felt like, Sirius couldn't wait to sample more of it.

When it grew close to twelve, Sirius made his way back to The Leaky Cauldron and ordered two butterbeers for himself and Alphard, before finding a booth for the pair of them.

At twelve o'clock on the dot, the doors to the pub opened and Alphard walked in.

"Uncle Alphard," Sirius called, waving at him. "Over here!"

"Sirius, my boy," he boomed, walking over towards him and hugging him. "It's been too long."

"It's been two weeks," Sirius laughed.

"Isn't that a new record for you and your mother?" Alphard asked with a throaty chuckle as he sat down.

"Yeah," Sirius answered, before taking a sip from his butterbeer, "even by her standards it was quick!"

"Are you sure there's no going back home for you?" Alphard asked. "I'm sure if you and Walburga talk, you—"

"No," Sirius answered,cutting his uncle off, "there is absolutely no way I am setting foot back in that house with that bigoted, hateful woman!"

"Okay," Alphard sighed. "Well if you refuse to go home then at least let me help you out. I'm guessing you left home without much money to your name, and Walburga is a nothing but a ferocious dragon, so no doubt she'll have cut you off from the family account by now."

"What are you saying, Uncle Alphard?" Sirius asked, taking a swig from his glass.

"I'm saying that I'm going to help you out financially," Alphard answered with a smile. "I'll cover your stay here, provide you with more than enough money to purchase your school things and support yourself for the foreseeable future. You can even come and stay with me, Sirius."

Sirius quickly swallowed his butterbeer.

"Are you sure?" he asked, knowing the potential consequences of Alphard's proposed actions.

"Yes, it might be a bit of a squeeze at my place, but we'll make room."

"Uncle Alphard, I appreciate the offer of a bed, but I don't want to put you out," Sirius answered. "And Mr and Mrs Potter have offered me a bed at their house until the end of the summer, and they never take no for answer."

Sirius handed his uncle the letter from James and allowed him to read it.

"Okay, but I will be giving you the money so that you can pay your own way," Alphard insisted. "And like Mr and Mrs Potter, I won't take no for an answer."

"Thank you, Uncle Alphard," Sirius said. "Do you have time for another drink?"

Alphard checked his watch and nodded his head.

"Make mine a firewhiskey this time though," he said as Sirius stood up.

Sirius signalled his agreement before heading towards the bar, and got their drinks.

Over the course of their next drink, Sirius found himself laughing more than he had in a long time and he and Alphard took it in turns to have digs at his mother and laugh at the ridiculous traditions their family still adhered to.

Before they parted ways, Alphard insisted they meet again for lunch and drinks before he went back to Hogwarts—something that Sirius was quick to agree to.

As soon as Alphard left, Sirius went to his room and packed his belongings back into his trunk and settled up his bill with Tom, before making his way out to the front of the building and flagging down the Knight Bus to make his way to the Potter household.


End file.
